6/13/98; 7.0 hrs; drilled both aft bottom and side skins to fuse; A good
Saturday!
I elected to wrap the side skins over the tail skin instead of making the
cut-out shown in the plans. This will prevent the overlap of the skins from being visible
from the side of the plane. The tail spring mount relief was cut using a combination of
unibit, Dremel cut-off wheel, and snips (unibit to form forward end of relief, cut-off
wheel for major cuts, snips for touch-up).
All aft skins clecoed in place. I used one inch spacing instead of the
1.25" specified since it was easier to lay out. The spacing was adjusted so as to
miss the rivets at the intersections of stringers and bulkheads.
6/15/98; 1.25 hrs; began drilling cockpit bottom skins.
6/23/98; 1.75 hrs; completed drilling cabin bottom skins; forward bottom
skin ready for drilling.
I am using a 12" #40 drill to make reference holes at ends of ribs
from underneath the skin. A line is then drawn with marks equally spaced for the remainder
of the holes which are drilled from the top side.
6/24/98; 3.0 hrs; fabricated cabin floor stiffeners; drilled forward floor
skin and stiffeners to fuse skeleton.
6/30/98; 5.5 hrs; drilled right forward side skin to fuse skeleton; began
drilling left forward side skin.
Here is the somewhat tricky area at the aft end of the side skin. The side
skin fits under the bottom skin.
7/1/98; 3.5 hrs; drilled left side skin to skeleton.
I decided to make tabs that would fit under the bottom skin.
The tabs are bent so they fit against the funny-shaped rib. This also
brings the bottom skin up to the proper level to match the bulkhead.
The curve is applied to the skin with elbow grease and persistent
persuasion.
This turned out better on the second side. The learning curve wasn't quite
as steep...
If I decide to abandon the RV project, I will coat the rivets with
proseal, put an Evinrude on the wide end, and go fishin'.........
7/10/98; 4.5 hrs; deburred, dimpled, and countersunk fuse skeleton.
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Please submit all questions and comments to sbuc@hiwaay.net
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