Again, the last few weeks have been really busy. FKN pancake breakfast, early mornings at work for several weeks working on the firewall cluster, internet moves, new router, etc., and working VARFOF last weekend. Fun. I have done a *little* work on the RV, but not a lot.
Since I'm so far behind (again), I'll just do one big post and go from there.
First thing was to get the canopy rails, gussets and the forward canopy deck riveted into place. I've read where folks had a lot of problems with these due to the tight fit. The only place I had a hard time was the forward rivet in the rail, and the aftmost rivet in the deck. I have a small tungsten bucking bar I use a lot, and it fit in the slot no problem. I ended up using a 1/2" socket extension as a bucking bar on aft part of the forward canopy deck. I cannot figure how to buck the two rivets that hold the forward deck to the rail. Over the last few weeks I've checked out a few finished RVs - every single one of them used pulled rivets at that location :). I'd already decided to, but it's nice to know you're not alone in that conclusion.
Here's the right rail and gusset riveted into place. This also ties in the seat back brace/bulkhead. The fuse got even stiffer once this was done.
Looking along the left rail forward after riveting.
Next step was to rivet the F695 gussets to the longerons and firewall angle.
This is the underside of that same piece for future reference and in case anyone wants to know what it looks like. The aft rivet is tight against the firewall attach angle once it's bucked.
Next step was to deburr the shoulder harness attach brackets to the longerons in the specified locations. I put the hardware in place to confirm the fit. This gets put away until later in the project.
The next thing to do was rivet the angle to the bellcrank attach rib.
Once the angle on the bellcrank was riveted, it was time to rivet the rib to the F-706 bulkhead. I'd read where folks had a lot of problems with this, but the pneumatic squeezer with the thin nose yoke had no problems at all.
When I was working on the tail cone I went ahead and cut the top J stringers to length. Now the ends need trimming to fit against the bulkheads properly.
J stringers trimmed and fitted to the bulkheads.
There is a rib that supports the top skin between the J stringers, running fore and aft between the F-706 and F707 bulkheads. There is an angle clip that needs to be fabricated/drilled to provide an attachment to the F707 bulkhead. This will be riveted after the skins are nailed down.
Next thing to do is fabricate the elevator bellcrank assembly. It was actually called out earlier, but I hadn't primed it at the time. Now that it was primed I went ahead and riveted it together.
Here is the bellcrank installed between the floor rib and the vertical bellcrank rib. The elevator pushrod will attach at the top, and the pushrod from the control stick will attach at the bottom, passing through a hole in the bottom of the F706 bulkhead. The bellcrank is asymmetrical, which gives a mechanical advantage (a small stick movement is translated into a larger elevator throw). There are precision bushings on either side of the bellcrank as well as a bearing in the center, which makes for no slop whatsoever, and a very smooth control movement compared to the more traditional cable/pulley assemblies used on production aircraft.
Next it was time to install the gussets that support the sides of the F707 and F706 bulkheads.
Close up of one of the gussets. I made a mistake drilling the gusset to the longeron (I drilled it prior to clecoing the top skin to the bulkhead. The bulkhead is very thin, and was not properly aligned fore and aft. I had a choice to drill more holes in the longerons (*not* doing that) or make a doubler. I went with the doubler.
The final step was to cleco the skins on and match drill the skins to the bulkheads, rib, doubler and J stringers. Looks like a porcupine from this angle.
I had to order the static port kit from Van's. Since I had to pay the shipping anyway, figured I'd get the VAF hat while I was at it. :)
Friday I didn't have a lot of time to start anything major, so I decided to mock up the tail section to see what it would look like all put together. I held the stabs in place with adjustable clamps, and put AN3 bolts in the hinges so it all fit more or less correctly. Actually starting to look like it might be an airplane.
