Category: Fuselage

This morning I finished all of the initial assembly of the aft fuselage as shown on sheet F21. I have the #40 pilot holes drilled and have up drilled all of the bolt holes for the AN hardware. Next, I need to tear this down, debur and then reassemble in preparation for final drilling and riveting to #30. I plan to save the riveting until I have fit the turtle deck.

After dismantling the aft fuselage I cleaned up the bench and prepared to start laying out the Turtle Deck Skin.

Today I drilled more of the pilot holes in the assembly. I worked at the end that mates with the forward fuselage.

Today I worked on fitting the lower skin to the fuselage. I set the fuselage upside down on the bench and overhung the vertical stabilizer off the bench. I ensured the bottom of the fuselage was level and also checked that the vertical stab was level as well. Once I had the skin drilled and clecoed, I worked on the mount for the tail wheel.

Today I started to work on fitting the T12-05 angle to the rear of the fuselage. This is the first piece I will drill holes for that will start to fix the two fuselage sized relative two one another an start to minimize racking. In order to fit this part I started by installing the vertical stabilizer so that I could ensure that it is properly aligned to both the fuselage and the angle. Once I had the vertical stabilizer fastened to the rear channel on the fuselage I supported the front mounting plate of the stabilizer and centered the front of the stabilizer to the fuselage. I did this by clamping a straight edge to the front of the stabilizer mounting plate and measuring from the skin of the stabilizer to the edge of the fuselage. I found that the mounting plate was not exactly centered on the stabilizer so measuring from the skin seemed like a better idea. I hung the back of the fuselage off the edge of the bench and used a long drill bit to drill up from the bottom.

More work today on the lower cross ties for the aft fuselage.

Today I setup the aft fuselage on the bench in preparation for the installation of the cross ties.