I never caught it when the fuse was upside down and although it crossed my mind that it was odd that Van would do it that way the light never went off. Don't really have a shot of it, but once the fuse was rolled it was very obvious. I was getting ready to rivet it down when I looked at it again and how the skins would end up laying and I really started thinking about it. Did a bunch of googling pictures and builders logs and never really could find anything definitive, although looking hard at the plans where the skins are depicted it was obvious the bottom skin was supposed to be under the side skins.
At this point I was feeling sick to my stomach at missing such an obvious detail. The floor stiffeners, both 904 bulkhead rows and the firewall angle riveted. To remove that would be daunting - drilling out well over 100 rivets. I knew a detail like that would forever bug me though. Even if no one else noticed (right....) I would know.
Since Van's is 3 hours later I gave them a call and talked to Gus. He pointed out from a structural point of view it was fine (I knew that, but it was nice to hear) and even mentioned he'd seen several, especially 6's done that way. The next comment was better though. He said he'd never tried it, but felt that by removing just a few of the angle and bulkhead rivets that it should be possible to flex the bottom skin enough to slide it under the top skin.
On that encouraging note I went back out and looked it over and decided he was right. I slept on it to make sure I didn't go at it too amped up - I wanted to do a careful and accurate job. Drilled the rivets out (4 forward, 5 on each row aft), lubed up the skin and a whippy putty knife with boelube, and in less than a minute I was able to slide the skin under - no wrinkles, kinks or anything at all to notice. Much better. I was a happy camper.
Once I did that, I spent the rest of the evenings riveting everything back up. Becca helped me rivet the bulk of them, then I worked through the bottom and remaining aux longerons.
Next step Van's calls for is to roll it upright, level the fuse, then rivet the aft deck on (which according to Dennis, locks the whole fuse rigid).
Saturday 3/24 was the FKN pancake breakfast. I think everyone decided it was a good day to fly. It was the best turnout we'd had since last summer.
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| From FKN Pancake Breakfast Photos |
Looked like a fly in out on the ramp. Not sure how many planes - couple of dozen at least. We had folks from Edenton, Elisabeth City, SFQ, Farmville, Dinwiddie, and all points in between.
The customers kept us busy, which was great. We even made some 4" pancakes in honor of Connie. :)
I had some housekeeping to do still - I messed up the F710 angle, ordered some more, but never cut it to length, and installed it. I did that Saturday.
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| From FKN Pancake Breakfast Photos |
I had some housekeeping to do still - I messed up the F710 angle, ordered some more, but never cut it to length, and installed it. I did that Saturday.
