Riveted the skin and worked on the baggage ribs and step bracket

Tammi helped me to rivet the bottom skin to the seat ribs. This was her first experience riveting. She’s a natural!

Riveted the power outlet bracket to the center ribs.

Blind riveted the seat rib angles to the seat ribs.

Dimpled and fluted the baggage ribs.

Final drilled and machine countersunk the step attach weldment. Dimpled the step attach angles and riveted them to the weldments.

Riveted the weldments to the outboard baggage ribs.

Dimpled the step attach ribs and riveted the doublers and nut plates to them.

Riveted the step attach ribs to the outboard baggage ribs.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.5
Fuselage Time (hours):	40.5
Total Time (hours):	495.0

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

Completed forward mid fuselage bulkheads (Section 25)

Received the new bulkhead bars from Van’s. Cut and deburred them. Scuffed them, Machine countersunk and riveted them. Reamed all the holes and bolted them to the aft bulkhead.

Today’s Time (hours):	2.0
Fuselage Time (hours):	22.0
Total Time (hours):	476.5

Continued assembling the mid-fuselage bulkheads

I was using the squeezer to do some dimpling and riveting. About halfway through it started leaking air from the valve. I disassembled the valve and found that the o-ring that prevents the poppet from-over extending had sheared in two. I called Cleaveland Tool and they were more than happy to ship a new o-ring at no charge. Nice folks over there. In the meantime I’ll be using the DRDT-2 and C-frame dimpling duties and shooting all the rivets with the gun.

I assembled the bulkhead bars. Unfortunately I screwed up one of them and had to order a new part from Van’s. Here’s the good one…

I moved on the the aft center section bulkhead. I machine countersunk all the holes then riveted the nut plates in place. Then I riveted the side angles to the bulkhead.

I countersunk and riveted the bearing brackets.

I dimpled the cover ribs and riveted the nut plates in place. I riveted the bearing brackets to the ribs as well.

Machine countersunk the bearing bracket braces and riveted on the attach angles.

Moved on to the forward center section bulkhead. I machine countersunk the holes on the flanges and riveted on the nut plates. Then riveted and bolted the side angles in place.

Today’s Time (hours):	5.0
Fuselage Time (hours):	11.0
Total Time (hours):	465.5

Wings are complete!!!

Completed the repair to the attach hole that I blew out last week. The fiberglass and micro cured up nicely. I sanded it flush, re-drilled and countersunk the holes, and riveted the nut plate on.

The molex connectors that I ordered from McMaster arrived so I inserted the pins and bundled the wires with wire ties.

This completes construction of the wings! Very excited to move on to the fuselage.

Today’s Time (hours):	0.5
Wing Time (hours):	298.5
Total Time (hours):	450.5

Completed left wingtip–Almost

All the things I did to the right wing yesterday, I did to the left wing today.

Thought I was finally at th end of the wings… but ran into another snag. When I was countersinking the screw holes in the tip, I hit a thin spot in the fiberglass and the countersink caught and made a giant hole. So I made a fiberglass patch. I’ll fill in the other side with some micro once the patch sets up. Then I can install the final nut plate and be done with the wings!

Traveling this week. So I will begin work on the fuselage next weekend.

Today’s Time (hours):	5.0
Wing Time (hours):	298.0
Total Time (hours):	450.0

Completed Right Wingtip

Laid out the cut the left and right wing tips. I made over-ran on of the cuts by an inch or so on the left wing. So I did a little patch and fill with some fiberglass and micro and set it aside to cure. Then continued work on the right wingtip.

Cut and installed the nav light lens.

Installed the nav/strobe light. Used the template from the plans to drill the wingtip. Terminated the wires with Molex .062 pins. Unfortunately Vans provided a 4-pin molex housing instead of the 5-pin one that matches the wiring harness in the wing. <sigh> Now I get to pay $10 in shipping for two $1 moles housings. Mounted the bracket and installed the light. Tested it out with a 9-volt. That sucker is bright!

Fit the wingtip to the wing and set it in place with a ratchet strap. Match drilled the holes from the wing skins to the wingtip. Final drilled and dimpled the holes in the wing for #6 screws. Final drilled the screw holes in the wing tip and then used a nut plate, a screw, and a cleco as a drill jig to drill the nut plate attach holes. Machine countersunk the screw and rivet holes and riveted the nut plates in place.

Fit the wing tip rib to the wingtip. Laid out and match drilled rivet holes. Riveted the rib in place.

Bam! Right wingtip done.

Today’s Time (hours):	8.0
Wing Time (hours):	293.0
Total Time (hours):	445.0

Finished assembling right tank.

Added a bead of tank sealant for the baffle. Clecoed the baffle in place. Riveted the baffle to the ribs and then riveted the z-brackets in place. Then riveted the baffle to the skin.

Installed the fuel drain, the fuel sender, AN fittings, and the fuel cap.

Machine countersunk the holes in the tank attach bracket for #8 screws.

The right tank is now complete and once the sealant has cured, I can pressure test it. Hoping to get the left tank to the same state tomorrow.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Wing Time (hours):	226.0
Total Time (hours):	378.0

Back to work on the tanks

Got back from Toronto yesterday and my replacement tank skins had arrived. I cut the splice strips from the skins with the snips and filed/sanded the edges smooth. I clecoed the baffles into the skins and machine countersunk all the associated rivet holes.

I’ll get the dimpling done tomorrow and start assembly on Sunday.

In other news… Van’s charged my credit card for the balance due on the fuselage kit. Hopefully that means the kit is being crated and will ship in the next week or so. Now the pressure is on to finish the wings!

Today’s Time (hours):	1.0
Wing Time (hours):	190.0
Total Time (hours):	342.0

Aileron assembly continues

Dimpled the leading and trailing edge holes in the top and bottom skins as well as the holes in the main ribs attached to them. Dimpled all the holes in the leading edge skins as well as the spars.

Machine countersunk the trailing edges.

Riveted the skins to the nose ribs.

Blind riveted the spars to the nose ribs.

Riveted the top and bottom skins to the nose assembly of the left aileron. Riveted the top and bottom ribs together. Riveted the nose skin to the counterbalance.

Prepared the left trailing edge by wiping it down the alcohol and applied the VHB tape to both sides. Then set it in place in the aileron and weighted everything down while resting the edge on a piece of angle iron. I remove the top backing tape by working my way across the aileron by removing a handful of clecos peeling the tape then replacing them with the next handful of clecos down the line until the whole backing tape was removed. I let the tape set up for a while and repeated the process for the bottom.

While the VHB tape sets up on the left aileron, I got started on assembling and riveting the right aileron. Got as far as riveting the top skin in place.

Today’s Time (hours):	6.0
Wing Time (hours):	185.5
Total Time (hours):	397.5