Category Archives: Forward Section

More Countersinking

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Time: 6 Hours

Back at the big task of countersinking all these parts. I started with center section box plate that was left clecko’d to the bulkheads.

IMG_4992.JPGThe spacers between the cockpit rail and seat back roll bars get countersunk for the 1/8″ rivets as well as the #8 screws.

IMG_4993.JPGThe lower longerons also get the #8 countersinks.

IMG_4994.JPGThe pile is adding up of parts that got countersunk.

IMG_4995.JPGNext up were the lower and middle aft longerons.

IMG_4997.JPGOn the aft middle longerons they start from the bulkhead just aft of the passenger seat and run to the tail. The forward end protrudes thru the bulkhead just a little right at the aft end of the passengers arm rests. On the left side it ends up covered up with a flap control arm cover (which is a mod I will be doing) but the right is exposed. Some after seat makers also make an arm rest pad to match your seats and this can sometimes interfere with it according to my buddy Glen. So I trimmed this portion off to avoid any problems.

IMG_4996.JPGThe last big “countersinking” items are the two upper longerons. These are long and have a lot of holes. To start you go to the ones on the top flange that mate with the cockpit rails. There are 2 holes that will get match drilled with the rails that the canopy slides in and don’t get countersunk.

IMG_4998.JPGMan these things are long and hard to manipulate in the Hangar.

IMG_4999.JPGI finished up all those holes for the rails and called it a day. I cleaned up and organized al the parts that I had out today. I forgot to mention that as I finished up drilling a part I would debur all the remaining holes and edges if needed. This allowed me to put the parts in a pile ready for scuffing, primer and paint. Overall today I countersunk 384 holes! But have all the side holes in the upper longerons left to do! I’m guessing these would go a little faster if my OCD wasn’t so bad that I have to clean up all the drill shavings up after each piece with the vacuum! I hate working in a dirty workspace! My goal is to finish up the longerons tomorrow so I can get to work on the skins and their dimpling.

Build it up, Tear it down

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Time: 6 Hours

As the title says, everything you do with this building process you first build the section with all the parts in place and do your fabrication and match drilling. When that’s done you get to tear it all down so that the holes you just match drilled can be deburred and dimpled(if necessary). But Before I got started on the tear down I had received a small package in the mail from Van’s containing 2 parts I had ordered. The first was the replacement gussets that I accidentally match drilled in the wrong place last week. The other was a replacement of the left arm rest where the rear seat throttle is. I had made the rectangular hole I cut a little bigger than it needed to be. Would the first one have worked ok, yes but it was bugging me a little. So when I ordered the gussets I added it to the order. Fast forward to today when I got it out of the USPS plastic envelope that Van’s used and this is what it got:

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IMG_4985.JPGThe aft end of the arm rest has been smashed down flattening out the 3 flanges a little. I could fix those but the flat part of the arm rest has a dent in it due to the smashing and that I couldn’t fix. So I called Van’s and sent them photos and all the info hoping they will send me another one soon. The gussets were fine and that’s where I started today. It was a quick hop to clean up the edges of the gussets and put a bevel on one edge to fit with the inside corner of the mid longeron. Then match drilled and they were done.

IMG_4986.JPGAfter that little detail was finished it was time to do the tear down. Not much to show in this process as I just worked backwards from assembly.

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IMG_4988.JPGThat took a an hour or so to tear everything down and I had a close call with the long tailcone skins as I had removed the forward most bulkhead early which gave the skins structure when I installed them. Without them there as I removed the last side clecko’s the 2 skins started to fall away from the main section of the fuselage. Basically they tried to curl outward at the aft end. Luckily they didn’t go to far and I was able to coral them before they creased themselves! Whew! I organized the parts from this year down and moved on. The next list of steps on several pages in the manual are simply countersinking the various holes that will accept the bottom skins and the side skins. I slid the main section of the fuselage to the back of my bench, with ballast in the front part, so the center section was hanging off so I had access to the two rows of holes that are on the forward and aft flanges of the center section wing attach points. I needed to counter sink those holes so they would accept the dimples of the mid fuselage bottom skin. After that I moved the fuselage back to the proper place on the workbench. I then started the fun process of countersinking all the parts I removed. The plans lay out the order and I just check each item off as I go. The items I got done today were the lower longeron, mid aux longeron and the gear tower box plates.

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IMG_4991.JPGNot a lot of cool photos today since it is just boring drilling. I use my cordless drill on its slow speed as it gives me better control of the countersinking. I’m glad I have 2 batteries for this as there are a lot of holes. Tomorrow I will get back at the drilling and keep forging on.

Longeron Drilling

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Time: 6 Hours

Well I finally got out to the Hangar for some more work on the fuselage after the thanksgiving holiday. It’s been a couple of weeks since I was able to get some work done. Today I started the process of positioning and drilling the longerons. The first ones to be drilled are the lower ones. The plans call for the extra caution needed to make sure that the drill bit stays square to the skin as you have several layers to drill through in several spots. For that I used a new tool I bought, called a drill cup. This will keep the bit square to the material being drilled.

IMG_4863.JPGSo with the drill cup I started working on the lover longeron working from the forward end aft.

IMG_4864.JPGThen I moved on to the middle “auxiliary” longerons. Before in installed these a while ago the plans had you draw a reference line for the rivet line. Since these kinda float as they sit right now being just held in by the sandwich of the skins and gear towers. You can move them up and down to get that reverence line centered in the line of holes. I was having a hard time getting the aft end down low enough to be centered. The reason was the angled gussets were binding a little. What I noticed was that I had clecko’d the top in the bottom spot and the bottom in the top. Down side to this was I drilled the lower ones already which opened the #40 holes to a #30 that was on the bottom longeron. The top needs #40 holes to match the skins, so I will order some replacements from Van’s.

IMG_4866.JPGWith the gussets removed I lined up the reference line in the holes and drilled away putting a clecko in as I went.

IMG_4865.JPGNow I hit the upper longeron where it met the engine mount on the forward end. I started with the skin side first and then the top side, making sure to stay square with the longeron as it sits at an angle.

IMG_4867.JPGFrom the top engine mount I worked aft along the top longeron drilling and cleckoing the forward skins. I used spring clamps to hold the skin tight to the longeron and to keep the edge of the skin even with the corner of the longeron.

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IMG_4870.JPGThen I moved to the lower part of the gear towers. There are a number of holes that need to be enlarged to a #19 hole for #8 structural screws. I marked out the 17 holes with a red sharpie and drilled them with a #21 first and final drilled with the #19 bit.

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IMG_4872.JPGOnce that was done I final reamed all the #30 & #40 holes in the forward skin that were not drilled with the longerons. Next I moved in to the mid fuselage skins and upper longeron drilling. I used the same clamps to make sure that the skin and corner of the longeron matched up. Once that was finished I match reamed all the remaining holes in the side skins.

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IMG_4876.JPGI’m fighting a little bit of a cold and this day went slow but it felt great to be back to building! I cleaned up the hangar and called it a night. Next up will be the aft fuselage drilling and match reaming.

Back to Work

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Time: 4 Hours

I had a nice 6 month training event at Flight Safety which is always a fun challenge. It always amazes me at the scenarios that the instructors can put you through this fun little box.

IMG_4373.JPGAfter training was through I drove up to Las Vegas to meet up with my girl was there on a business trip. We had a lot of fun on this long weekend, we also got to catch the Red Bull air races while we were there.

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IMG_4413.JPGWhen I got home I had a lot of errands and stuff to do since I was gone for 8 days. However I did manage to get 4 hours in the Hangar. I decided to wait on the fuselage aft bulkheads and work on the panel bulkhead that I had messed up and reordered the part for. If you remember the lower bulkhead had a 2″ passthrough that I added to help clean up the look. When I measured for the placement I didn’t take into account the parts for the mod I did on the baggage floor. The placement put the pipe, and it’s 90° elbow, hitting the edge of one of the CamLo’s in the baggage floor. So I did some new measurements and got to work on it. Not a lot to show as it was just as I did before. Here you can see the placement of the error and the new one.

IMG_4458.JPGI replaced the passthrough along with new nutplates and primed/painted the parts. I will reinstall it after it cures for a few day.

IMG_4459.JPGMy goal for this weekend is to winterize my Harley and get it put in storage. That will give me room to build a new stationary workbench that will be 2′ off the ground. This will hold the fuselage at a better working height as it grows. It will also free up the rolling workbench for work space.

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More Deburring

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Time: 4 Hours

I got home from my trip this afternoon and took care of some errands before getting back in the Hangar. The first items up were to match drill all the bulkheads, arm rests and gussets. I was then able to combine the forward floor section, center section and mid fuselage.

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IMG_4352-1.JPGI then grabbed the two forward skins and removed the blue film from the inside for eventual priming and painting. I then grabbed the soldering iron and removed the blue film over the rivet lines.

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IMG_4354.JPGI then got to the deburring of all the edges and punched holes. With all the edges nice I put them in their place on the fuselage. The plans call for a lot of clecko’s to hold everything in proper place.

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IMG_4361.JPGI have run out of 1/8″ clecko’s and need to order more this week while I’m in flight training. The last thing I did today was to add several side support angles on the side skins. Next up the aft tail cone and all its bulkheads.