Final Assembly Of The Fuselage Has Begun

We finally started finally assembly on the front section of the of the fuselage.  We completed the pre-assembly on Saturday, and got a little riveting time in on Monday.  There is still quite a bit of work left to go, but this work usually more enjoyable when done in short stretches.

Finished Pre-Assembly on March 8

First bit of riveting completed on March 10

Still Chipping Away

So we did end up taking quite a few weeks off again over the Christmas period.  We did manage to get a few work sessions in in January, and had a pretty good run again today.  We are currently in the final stages of preparing the front of the fuselage for final assemble.  We riveted a few small pieces in place today, drilled a few holes, torqued a few nuts, etc... We should be in for a pretty intense riveting and assembly session our next time out.

This is one of the spots we spent quite a bit of time on today

Scott priming the over lap section of the skin

More progress

Well today we finished all the prep work on the longerons.  Way back we talked about bending and shaping the longerons but today we focused on machine countersinking and then prepping and priming them.  For those who haven't been reading our blog since we started this project all those years ago, machine countersinking is done to allow the rivets to be flush with the skin of the plane.  Dimpling is basically doing the same thing except that, instead of removing material to make room for the head of the rivet, you just bend the material.  You machine countersink when the material is too thick to bend and you dimple when the material is too thin to machine countersink.

In any case, we're ready to begin final assembly on the fuselage.  It will be nice to see some parts going in their final location.

Back to work (again)

Okay so I guess the post in April should've been called 'temporarily back to work until summer projects can start and take up all the free time'.  But we're back in the shop now and have finished disassembling the fuselage so that we can prep all the parts for final assembly.  Progress has been pretty quick so far.  We've prepped (deburred, dimpled/countersunk, and primed) all the parts from the centre fuselage forward.

September 25th

What greeted us when we started the night of work.

Time to start disassembling.

Scott checking out the night's progress

September 28th

Getting some pieces our of our way so we have more room to work.

Disassembly is complete.

Finally back to work

After a few long breaks, and pretty busy winter for both Scott and myself, we have managed to get in a few sessions of working on the plane.  I didn't have a camera handy for the first couple of days back in the shop, but I will include every picture I have in this post.

January 26, 2013

February 18, 2013

April 27, 2013

The current state of the fuselage

Well...

So you know how my post way back in November said that it's been far too long without a post.  Well, it's been far too long without a post again.  But we have been working on the plane.  We completed all the steps for the lower fuselage up to the stage where we disassemble everything so we can prep and prime.  We started the long process of disassembly this past weekend.  I expect that it will be a few long weeks of prepping and priming parts.  After that we can start the assembly.

January 12, 2013

The foot pedals pre-assembly

The foot pedals post-assembly

Darren match drilling

Where we finished for the day

Where we finished for the day from another angle

January  19, 2013

The disassembling has begun

Yes it does look like we are going backwards

It's been far too long without an update

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last few months.  We have actually done a lot of work but it's hard to document all the progress in pictures because there are so many small pieces that need to be made.  This is essentially the part of the plane that holds the engine onto the wings so you can imagine that it requires extra strength and extra parts.

Since the last update we have finished manufacturing (meaning taking a piece of aluminium angle or sheet and making a part according to the plans) various parts including:
- all the stiffeners for the forward fuselage
- various gussets and other reinforcement brackets
- the main landing gear spacers and brackets
- different bulkheads, armrests, etc
that includes all the match drilling of the parts

And today Darren worked on the rudder/brake pedals while I installed and match drilled the last pieces of bulkheads, reinforcing pieces, side panels and floor pieces for the baggage compartment.  The baggage compartment was a few different parts but it was not particularly comfortable as I was working underneath the fuselage for most of the day.  Darren had to make a lot of parts for the rudder/brake pedals which involved the normal, sometime tedious, measuring, cutting, deburring and match drilling.  And he got to do it 4 times (a left and right pedal for both sides).

For next time we need to finish up the rudder pedals, install the floor stiffeners and then it will be time to take everything apart (after we label each piece extremely well) for deburring, dimpling/countersinking, prepping and priming.  After that we can begin final assembly on the fuselage.  We're starting to run out of fuselage parts which, for awhile, didn't seem like it was going to happen so it's a good feeling.

September 15, 2012

Front fuselage assembly under-way

From another angle

October 6, 2012

More work on the front section of the fuselage

October 20, 2012

Starting on landing gear support piece.

Progress being made - slow but steady....

November 3, 2012

Scott priming landing gear support pieces

The pieces Scott was priming cleco'd back in place

Foot Pedal at the starting point

November 10, 2012

Foot Pedals mid-ways along

Foot Pedals nearing completion

Baggage Area