Back to work

So after a summer full of travel delays, landscaping projects and just other things to do we got back in the shop this weekend and worked on the forward fuselage.  There are a lot of parts to make and install so this is going to take a little time to finish up.  So this week we worked on installing some of the longerons, match drilling some stiffeners and making some parts.   It's nice to get back in the shop even if the outside temperature is still pretty hot.

The pieces laid out.

One of the pieces drilled, and clecoed into place

One of the pieces installed.

One of the pieces still in progress.

Finished the rudder (yes, the rudder)

Believe it or not we finished riveting the rudder this weekend.  It was one of those things that we set aside (you kind of glue the trailing edge and leave it for a while) and forgot about.  So we decided to just get it done.

Landing gear holes

Tonight we spent a couple of hours working on the forward fuselage.  We finished match drilling the firewall (including the two top steel brackets).  Finally we cut out the main landing gear holes and drilled the holes for the brake lines.

Back to work!

We returned to working on the plane today and it was a day of great visible progress.  We started off by drilling the forward skins to the longerons and then we installed the firewall and bottom skins.  After some fine tuning we were able to clamp and then drill the side and bottom skins to the firewall.  It's great to see some progress again.

Time For A Short Break

Scott, and I both have a pile of work around our houses and yards piling up, and are more or less taking the month of may off from working on the plane in an attempt to catch up.

We have not been doing a very good job of snapping picture of our progress as of late, but I have included everything  I have taken in the last month.

Progress has been slow....  We have just finished drilling the longerons.  We need to trim them slightly, and then we will be moving on to attaching more pieces up front.  But that will all have to wait for June.

More fuselage work

This weekend we continued to work on the main fuselage. We first installed the arm rests in the cockpit area. This was just straightforward fluting to make the curved piece straight. Next we rolled the edges of the side skins and began match drilling the side skins. We also installed a few little pieces but they're hard to explain in text. 

Darren at work under the Fuselage.

Our growing wall of plans

Scott working on rolling the side skin.

The fruit of Scott's efforts

Darren being surprised by the camera.

Attaching the Centre Fusalage

We made even more exciting progress this past weekend. We connected the centre fuselage to the aft and clecoed in the main front skins. We also did a bunch of other work like cutting holes for the steps, etc. It was a weekend of great progress. The fuselage is sure getting big.

Scott trimming one of the parts

Clecoing the fuselage from the inside

The centre fuselage joined to the aft

The side skins installed (the firewall connects at the front of the skins)