Start of center fuselage

Today we started work on the centre fuselage. The first step was cutting some spacers (sounds easy but takes time) and modifying some of the floor ribs to ensure that the controls have sufficient space. After that we did some prep for platenuts and some other general prep work (drilling out for electrical wires, etc). Finally we clecoed the entire assembly together and installed the bottom skin.

The parts laid out prior to starting work for the day.

Darren working on manufacturing one of the spacers. 

The ribs Scott was working on modifying.

Some more of the ribs Scott was working on.

The ribs modified as required, and ready to be cleco'd together.

The spacers Darren was working on.

Scott working on some assembly.

The centre fuselage cleco'd together, and flipped over so the bottom skin could be cleco'd into place.

Sweltering Heat, And A Little More Work On The Fuselage

It got up into the thirties (Celsius), and the workshop currently has no cooling.  After an hour of replacing a couple of rivets we were not happy with, and adding a few new rivets, we had had enough for the night. 

Some progress was made.

Fuselage Assembly

We finally managed to start on some actual assembly on the fuselage. 

The first skin riveted onto the fuselage.

Starting from the bottom up.

Now we flipped it over, and noticed we didn't cut off quite enough of the plastic.

Ready for some more riveting.

It is a lot easier to rivet these pieces when the fuselage is flipped upside down.

Beginning aft fuselage assembly

We started working on assembling the aft fuselage.  The first step, and actually most difficult, was to get the very think (but small) piece of fuselage skin to bend and conform to the rear bulkhead.  After we got that done we began assembling the skins and bulkheads.  The bulkheads were assembled way back in the old workshop last year so this went fairly quickly.  The only item we had to do was ensure that the bulkhead flanges were bent to conform to the skin.  Next we cut and shaped the j-stringers to fit in the fuselage.  After that it was a matter of making sure that everything was straight and then match drilling all of the rivet holes.

March 12th

The longerons.

March 26th

The basic structure.

The rear bulkead.

With the side skins attached.

April 2nd

More work on the rear bulkhead.

Darren match drilling.

Match drilled, and ready for priming.

Bulkheads are finished

Today we wrapped up the last few bulkheads for the fuselage.  We started off by finishing up the match drilling we started on Thursday night.  There wasn't a lot of manufacturing to do today, we finished most of those tasks on Thursday.   After that we began the long process of edge sanding, deburring and sanding all of the parts.  After we cleaned a primed all the parts, we assembled the remaining bulkheads.  We were finishing up the last few rivets when the power failed.  The good thing about air tools is that the tank gives you a certain amount of buffer.  Anyways, the power was out for about 30-40 minutes so we started packing up the workshop.  When the power came back we finished up the last few rivets and wrapped up our packing tasks.  The workshop is mostly ready to be moved.

More bulkheads

Tonight we got back to work on the last few bulkheads.  Darren and I spent time manufacturing some attachment angles and parts.  We wrapped that up and started match drilling all of the components together.  The last few bulkheads are quite straightforward so the work is moving along briskly.  We'll wrap those up on Saturday and then start packing up the workshop for the move to my new house.  There will be one more update on Saturday and after that we'll have a few weeks off while things get setup in the new house.

F-706 Bulkhead Complete

Today we finished up the F-706 bulkhead.  This is the first bulkhead in a series of a few that form the "tail cone" at the back of the plane.  This one also has the bellcrank that will connect the control sticks to the elevators.

We started out by manufacturing more pieces of aluminum angle and match drilling those to the ribs.  After that we went through the normal sequence of assembly, match drilling, deburring, prepping and priming for all the parts.  Finally we assembled the bulkhead.

F-706 part way through the construction.

F-706 after the assembly is completed.

Different angle of the F-706 after the assembly is completed.

Finished F-705 Bulkhead

Tonight we worked on assembling the F-705 bulkhead.  This one had a lot of parts but our pneumatic squeezer made short work of all the rivets.

Scott working on the assembly.

F-705 Bulkhead Progress

Today we finished all the manufacturing, match drilling and prep (deburring, sanding and priming) work for one of the centre bulkheads (this is the one where the seatbelts and the rear wing spars attach to).  We manufactured a lot of the parts for this bulkhead from un-prepped aluminium parts so it took a tremendous amount of time.  In any case, we made good progress and will be ready for assembly one night this week.

Scott working the drill.

Scott checking his work.

Started on F-705 bulkhead

Tonight we started work on the F-704 bulkhead.  This is the other key part of the fuselage where the rear wing spars attach the the fuselage.  More importantly it is where our seat backs will rest and where the seat belts get connected.  We started off by locating all of the main parts (they were split between Darren's and my house).  After that we began manufacturing a bunch of the parts that are needed for this bulkhead.  We ended the night by having all the parts retrieved and most of the parts manufactured.  Assembly will start on the weekend. 

Some of the F-704 pieces layed out.

More of the F-704 pieces layed out. 

The heart of the fuselage

Today we wrapped up most of the tasks associated with the bulkhead where the wings attach to the fuselage.  The bulkhead is built in two halves.  Van's Aircraft calls this "the heart of the fuselage".  We finished up the deburring tasks and started riveting the parts together.  Again, the pneumatic squeezer saved us a lot of time and energy. 

After that we worked on the parts that attach the control column to the bulkhead.

The other half of the fuselage has a number of places to connect panels, etc.  These all have three snap bushings drilled.  Here's a picture of us fitting the parts to the spar.

 

And here's another couple of them with the parts attached.

Finished firewall and started on main bulkhead

Tonight we finished up the last few rivets on the firewall and riveted on the doubler plate.  After that we started work on the bulkhead where the wings bolt to the fuselage.  Needless to say this is the heart of the fuselage.  We started off by drilling some holes for bushings (essentially little pieces of plastic that protect wires or cables from rubbing on the metal and chaffing).  After that we assembled the forward and aft portions of the bulkhead using the close tollerence bolts (and are they ever close tollerence) and clecos.  We match drill something called "shear bars" to the aft portion of the bulkhead and then finished up match drilling all of the parts.  Things went smoothly so we made a lot of good progress.

Scott working on the drill press.

Firewall assembly

Today we worked on the firewall.  The first step was to disassemble the entire thing so that we could machine countersink all of the stiffners and prep all of the parts.  I'll assume from now on that I don't have to talk about deburring (which took a lot of time).  After the prep work we prepped and primed all of the parts (except the firewall itself which is stainless steel).  We started assembling the firewall and managed to get most of it completed.  Only the fuel pump doubler plate and a few rivets on the attach bracket remain.

Darren machine countersinking the stiffners

Scott dimpling the firewall

Darren making sure that the bolts can fit in the platenut

Scott back-riveting the stiffners to the firewall

The (mostly) assembled firewall

Firewall continued

Tonight we spent a few hours wrapping up some of the pre-assembly tasks on the firewall.  First we match drilled some of the spacers and the two big attach brackets.  Next we finished match drilling the firewall recess.  Finally we drilled and match drilled the doubler plate for the fuel pump.  The firewall is now ready for disassebly followed by prepping (deburring, countersinking and sanding) and priming of the non-stainless steel parts.

Scott drilling the fuel pump doubler plate

 A picture of where we were at the end of the day

Start of fuselage (firewall)

Today was a mix of activities.  While I searched out the parts for the firewall and manufactured a few parts.  Darren finished machine countersinking the trailing edges for the ailerons and flaps.  Once that was done we started on the first piece of the fuselage kit -- the firewall.  It was necessary to manufacture a few attach angles, stiffners and reinforcement plates but now that we've done this before it was old hat.  Afterwards we started clecoing the parts to the firewall and match-drilled the main components.  

The parts for the firewall layed out

Scott clecoing the parts to the firewall

The fuselage is here

We spent a non-spooky haloween day inspecting, inventorying and organizing the fuselage kit.  Once again Van's did a great job packing the kit and we were only missing 2 parts (and we only had 1 extra).  Considering how many parts are in this kit I'm quite impressed.  We're setting the fuselage aside until the wings are done and we have the empennage and wings inspected.

The crate just after it was delivered.

The crate shortly after we opened it up

Scott doing paperwork while Darren unpacks

Darren unwrapping parts and folding up packing paper

Almost finished unpacking.  The roll you see are the main fuselage skins.