Category: Fuselage

I started today by getting setup to up drill the holes to #33. This is in preparation for dimpling. The hole in the sheet needs to be undersize in order to end up on size after dimpling. Once I up drilled to #33 I then disassembled the web and started to up drill to #30.

I finished drilling the lower forward skin (Cockpit Floor). With that completed I started see what other parts and assemblies on the F16 sheet I needed to make.

I finished the layout and trimmed the sheet to final size. Next, I started to drill the 300 plus pilot holes.

I spent today laying out the hole pattern in the lower forward skin for the fuselage.

I finished the last few rivets for the turtle deck and moved on to the tail cone assembly. Next, I installed the four fasteners through the fuselage sides for the upper side splice plates. I installed the lower splice plates temporarily. When I install aft bottom sheet later I will need to install the correct fasteners. After completing all of the work on the tailcone I moved on to the lower forward skin. I found my last piece of 0.032 and cut out a piece 41 inches long by 48 inches wide to use as the starting point for the layout.

Today I worked on deburring one of the turtle deck skins.