Assembly continues

Fluted the outboard seat and baggage ribs to mach the curve of the bottom skin. Riveted nut plates to the seat ribs.

Bolted and riveted the seat ribs to the bulkhead assembly.

Riveted the seatbelt lugs and routing angles to the baggage ribs.

Riveted the aft bulkhead to the seat rib assembly. Drilled and riveted the doubler to the bulkhead. Fabricated and riveted together the idler bearing assembly and riveted to the bulkhead.

Clecoed the bottom skins together and match drilled some holes. Cut the landing gear leg openings in the forward skins. Machine countersunk the doublers and dimpled the skin stiffeners. Drilled the 9/16″ hole in the skin with a step drill. This hole will be used to mount the transponder antenna.

Today’s Time (hours):	5.0
Fuselage Time (hours):	31.0
Total Time (hours):	485.5

Finished riveting the outboard leading edge to the left wing

Finished riveting the outboard leading edge to the left wing with a little help from Remy.

I set the left wing into the cradle and used the pneumatic stapler to attach the carpet suspending the outboard edge.

And that completes cradle construction.

Fluted and straightened the flanges of the tank ribs.

Today’s Time (hours):	1.0
Wing Time (hours):	123.0
Total Time (hours):	334.0

Work on the ribs continues

Netflix and scuff! Sophie deburred and scuffed all the ribs while I was traveling this week. Awesome job!

I fluted and straightened all the ribs.

I assembled and final drilled #30 the torque tube bracket assemblies.

I clecoed the torque tube bracket assemblies to the inboard-most ribs and final drilled them to the rib webs.

I clecoed the flap brackets and flap bracket ribs to the inboard and outboard wing ribs and natch drilled all the #30 holes.

Today’s Time (hours):	10.0
Wing Time (hours):	34.5
Total Time (hours):	245.5

Elevator Parts Prep

Cut and deburred the edges of the elevator ribs and clecoed them together. Also cut and deburred the shear clips.

Straightened and fluted the tip ribs. Deburred the edges of the ribs and the counterweight skins. Clecoed everything together. Ready for drilling.

Copied the plans page with the templates for the foam trailing edge ribs and the trim tab ribs. Checked to ensure that the copy was 1:1 withe respect to the original.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Empennage Time (hours):	80.0
Total Time (hours):	80.0

Prepared HS Ribs

Deburred all the HS ribs with 400 grit sand paper. Sand paper seemed like the most straightforward approach because of all the segments in the flanges. I was able to get in between the segments with it.

I fluted the ribs and modified the two nose ribs and two inspar ribs per the plans and marked them.

I drilled the inboard nose and inspar ribs to the forward spar. Then I deburred all the holes in all the ribs and then dimpled all the ones that mate up to the skins. So. Many. Holes. I can’t even imagine what the wings are going to be like.

I also created a template to make cradles to hold the HS when assembling. I’ll scrounge some plywood to cut them from and some sort of square stock for the bases.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Empennage Time (hours):	61.0
Total Time (hours):	61.0

More work on rudder substructure and skins

Match drilled the spar to the reinforcement plates, rudder horn, shim, and bottom rib. Radiused the forward corners and fluted the counterbalance rib and top rib.

Trimmed, drilled, and deburred rudder skins. Match drilled the top rib and counterbalance rib to the spar.

Match drilled the counterbalance to the counterbalance rib. Dimpled the counterbalance rib and machine countersunk the counterbalance.

All of my back ordered parts from Van’s Aircraft arrived today.

Hopefully all of the replacement VS parts I ordered will arrive tomorrow and I can prep them for priming along with all the rudder parts over the weekend.

Today’s Time (hours):	2.5
Empennage Time (hours):	20.5
Total Time (hours):	20.5

And so it begins!

I didn’t get to shoot primer on the practice project today. I had to work and then brine the turkey for thanksgiving. There wasn’t enough daylight left after all of that. So instead we decided to actually start work on the airplane this evening. I’ll spray primer on the practice project and the vertical stabilizer all together this weekend.

Screen Shot 2019-05-27 at 9.50.30 AM

Remy had the honor of drilling the first holes (front spar doubler to front spar).

Vertical stabilizer rear spar, doubler, and rudder brackets ready for drilling

Today’s Time (hours):	2.5
Empennage Time (hours):	2.5
Total Time (hours):	2.5