The thing with building the fuselage is that you usually have to do everything twice. The first time takes an age while you figure out how to do it and the second time it’s a breeze. With that in mind I had the headspace to take photos when creating the second rudder exit fairing. So here you go: First, cut the right shape out of the correct thickness sheet metal and mark the lines as needed. I ‘tweaked’ my lines a little so they didn’t interfere with any of the rivets or screw holes already on the fuselage…
Then carefully bend the sheet along the lines…
When doing that try not to overtighten the vice and break it in half! Like this…
Then offer it up to the fuselage and drill the holes. Don’t forget to align it with the fuselage so it looks nice.
Oh and remember to check inside the fuselage for anything that might interfere.
Then stand back and admire the rudder exit fairings on either side of the fuselage (as seen from the very back.
Why bother going to all this trouble? I think they look nice. It should protect the rudder cables a bit and prevent some of the water getting in the fuselage when it’s washed. Oh and I really enjoyed making it. That’s why!
Back to the humdrum of building, it was time to wash and prep all the parts for priming. Nothing to report here, pretty much the same as the last gazillion parts that have been through this process!
Now that the fuselage was upright I could start working on various bits and pieces. First was the forward gussets that strengthen the join between the firewall and longerons.
The problem was that the angle of these gussets didn’t match the fuselage.
So I emailed Van’s who said it would be fine to clamp it down and drill it. So that’s what I did.
Next on the list was to figure out how the static tubing would go through the bulkhead. Researching other builder logs I decided to do as others did and drill a 1/2″ hole in the left side of the bulkhead.
Next up I fitted and match drilled the side rails to the fuselage.
And also did the shoulder strap harness mounting plates.
Finally I started on the Elevator bellcrank assembly.
Althought it’s been a lot of little bits and pieces it’s still great to be working on the fuselage the right way up.
This is a major milestone in the project. Known in the trade as ‘flipping the canoe’ it’s that time when the fuselage gets rotated the right way up for the first time.
With lots of careful planning and communication my Dad and I were both set to flip the canoe. So here goes…
There was a big sigh of relief shortly after this last picture. The canoe was now upright. But we weren’t done yet as there is no way those saw horses can hold the fuselage safely. Luckily another RV builder had kindly donated their fuselage stand and it had been sat in my garage for a couple of years. So in short order it was dusted off and assembled.
And after a bit of chit chat the fuselage was moved to the stand.
Next came the job of levelling the fuselage. The trouble with a digital level is it can really cause OCD. In the old days builders used a bubble level and close enough would do. With the digital level it’s easy to chase 0.1 degree all day long.
But it was done and I was happy with 0.00 degrees at the front, middle and back. No twist in the fuselage. Yay!
Later in the week I made the canopy gusset.
And then fitted the aft deck.
I wrapped up the week by marking out which rivets would also hold the static tube clips.
Not much to add to last weeks post to be honest. This week started out by riveting more of the baggage area…
And in between riveting the fuselage I started riveting the flap together.
It’s funny how quickly it all comes back when you work on something from way back in the project.
But eventually, all the flap riveting was finished and it is ready to be mounted back on the wing.
So, back to the fuselage the firewall sealant had arrived which meant that I could finally close up the front of the fuselage. I pealed back the side skins and applied the sealant.
I applied sealant to the bottom of the firewall (top in this picture) and then riveted every rivet I could reach in the forward side skins. Lastly, I fitted the floor skin and cleco clamped every hole.
That’s it for this week. I know it doesn’t seem like much but given the circumstances I think it’s making great progress.
So the paint was dry (enough) and I could start reassembling the fuselage for the last time.
It’s been a long time since I last riveted anything so I started with something easy, the bracket for the autopilot servo.
Then the stiffener for the aft F-706 bulkhead.
Once that was done I put jointing compound on and cleco’d the F-706 bulkhead into the aft fuselage.
Next I riveted the gussets onto the firewall as per the instructions.
And riveted on the angle brackets to the forward longerons. I won’t rivet these onto the firewall until the fuselage is together.
I then pre-riveted on the Gear Attach webs to the F-902 bulkheads. Doing it now is much easier than when everything is back together.
Next I riveted on the nutplates to various bulkheads.
Then the F-704 doubler plates.
Next I fitted and torqued nuts and bolts to the F-704 bulkheads as per the plans. Again much easier to do now than when it’s all together.
Then I fitted and riveted the outer seat ribs.
and torqued the bolts. (If you’r building don’t do this now, it interferes with 2 rivets you need to set).
As I’m building a tailwheel I filled the unused holes for the main wheels with AN4 bolts as per drawings.
Then I got stumped.
The plans have you run the wiring down the centre channel all the way up to the F-706 bulkhead. There are holes for the wiring in everything except the F-706. I can’t see how or where to drill 2 wiring holes without weakening the structure or interfering with the elevator push rod.
So I called Richard for a quick brain storm. In the end we agreed the best way was for the wiring to transition from the centre of the aircraft to the next ribs under the baggage floor. But, the baggage floors are supposed to be riveted into place permanently.
As there were nuts and, now, wiring in that bay, I didn’t like riveting up the floor permanently. So I called Nigel (my inspector) and asked permission to make the baggage floors removable.
He said that was find so the next job was to fit nutplates to all the rivet holes.
That took about 4 hours to do everything and in some places it needed the one legged nutplates.
Eventually they were all done and I was pretty happy with the results. Only time will tell if anything else interferes with any other parts.
Once I was happy with the centre section and there was nothing more I could possibly think of doing it was time to flip it and attach it to the aft fuselage again. Thanks Jake for your help.
I then started locating all the parts and reattaching them.
While on a tea break I spotted that I’d missed priming an overlapping part of the structure. Doh! So I quickly knocked up both primers and got it done.
Next I started riveting any hard to reach rivets that could be done now such as the three aft arm rest rivets.
Next I riveted the aft support rib as far forward as I could – some overlap with the side skin so I left those.
Finally, it was time to fit the main side skins. But first every contact surface needed JC-5a jointing compound.
Then on went the skins.
Once the skins were on I started fitting all the parts to the forward fuselage.
I peeled back the front of the skins just enough so I could rivet the angle bracket to the fuselage.
Then I looked for any more rivets I could do alone such as the ones around F-704 wing slot.
Finally, I fitted and torqued the 4 bolts that attach the firewall to lower longerons.
That’s it, everything I can do solo is now done. What’s needed next is a riveting buddy. Any offers?!
After quickly finishing the last little bit of work on the armrest reinforcements it was time to wash and degrease the last of the parts. Some of these parts were so big they had to go outside to be degreased.
And rinsed…
As before, I knew when the parts were grease free when the water sheet off the parts. The dog thought it was party time.
Eventually all the parts were washed and degreased and it was time to spray it all with etch (wash) primer.
Once the etch had dried I then sprayed the cabin parts with acrylic 2k paint in my chosen colour – RAL7001.
Anything that was not going to be visible in the cabin I sprayed with PR143 primer.
I also primed any parts of the outer fuselage that overlapped other parts.
I did the same on the massive longerons. The aft section was primed with PR143 and the forward part was painted with RAL7001.
I also realised that there were a bunch of parts I had primed previously – like the firewall and F-706 bulkhead that needed to be painted so I gave those a shot of RAL7001.
and the uprights for the mid section.
Finally I took the big F-770 skins outside and sprayed them with RAL7001 too. The first one sat there and dried within an hour or so. I swapped it out with the second one and gave that a coat of grey.
As soon as I’d finished spraying the second skin I was done painting. Yay! So I started tidying up the workshop.
After about 10 minutes into the tidy up I heard an almighty clang coming from what I thought was a neighbours house. Until it dawned on me…
NO it can’t be!!!! Please no!…
Yes, it was my skin! A gust of wind had caught it and slammed it to the ground!
After a moment of staring in disbelief, I grabbed the skin as carefully as I could and put it back on the table. While I waited for a break in the breeze so I could safely run into the workshop and grab a piece of wire to tie the skin to the table to stop it happening again I examined the damage.
and
and
There was nothing I can do while it was wet so I left it to dry.
After about 4 hours I came back to the skin and decided to sand off the affected areas. The paint was only 4 hours old so it should come off pretty easily.
I started with some maroon scotchbrite pads. Useless! Didn’t even mark the paint.
So I used some 400 grit emery paper. A very light mark but it wasn’t making any headway!
So the good news is this paint is tough! Perfect for high wear area like the cockpit.
In the end I used 200 grit sandpaper and smoothed as much of the damage as possible and worked back to the emery and then the scotchbrite.
I then took the skin outside, set it up on the table (tied of course) and then sprayed over the sanded areas.
What a week but I’m glad the painting is all done!
It might seem like I’m streching out a simple job but don’t forget every single part that is removed get deburred and prepped. Even the smallest parts take time to prepare.
But, today I was determined to get all the parts of the fuselage finally. Yikes, that’s a lot of parts!
And here is what the fuselage looks like now. Yep, that centre section and the long longerons will need to come off too… another time.
As I’ve been disassembling I’ve had this nagging voice in my head telling me I’d missed something. Sure enough I had missed a couple of 1/8″ holes that connect the F-902 bulkhead to the longeron. Not a massive problem and easily done after the fuselage is rebuilt but luckily I was able to do this now while those parts were still together.
Once that was drilled I then went on to dismantle and prep the F-604 bulkhead.
