25 - Fwd Mid Fuse Bulkheads (completed); 26 - Mid Fuse Lower Structure (bottoms skins; seat ribs; baggage ribs)

This week saw the completion of section 25 and the start of what seems to be a very long section 26.  The fuselage is coming along and it was nice to bolt and rivet the seat ribs, and thus form the skeleton of the structure where my rear end will eventually find its home.  I dimpled the large center bottom skin - it was tough to get all the rivets but with a little bending, the center holes were not as much of an issue as I had anticipated.  The following were accomplished this week:

- riveted cover ribs and final-torqued bolts on forward center section bulkhead; reamed .311 and .375 holes
- deburred and riveted doublers to outboard baggage ribs and baggage ribs
- dimpled, fluted, deburred and attached nutplates to seat ribs; attached bushing clips, routing angles and doublers to ribs; riveted crotch strap assemblies (incl. nutplates); fluted outboard seat ribs and baggage ribs to match curvature of center bottom fuselage skin
- bolted and riveted seat ribs to F-01414 bulkhead; separated, deburred and primed seat belt attach lugs; deburred baggage ribs, routing angles, and seat belt lug brackets
- riveted seat lugs and lug brackets to baggage ribs; riveted F-01405 bulkhead to inboard seat ribs and outboard seat ribs and bulkhead angle; assembled and riveted Idler bracket assembly to F-01405 bulkhead; clecoed and match-drilled forward bottom skins
- match-drilled forward bottom skins; cut-out rectangles for gear legs; deburred and countersunk large skin stiffeners; dimpled and deburred small stiffeners; primed all stiffeners
- deburred forward and center bottom skins; up-drilled a bunch of holes; dimpled K1000-06 rivets
- dimpled center bottom skin; back-riveted nutplates, stiffeners and doublers to center bottom skin; separated, deburred and dimpled seat angles; straightened gear brace bars; primed gear brace bars

Reamed inboard 0.311" and 0.375" holes in the spar flanges:

25 - Fwd Mid Fuse Bulkheads (Fuselage kit delivered; most bulkheads completed)

Big week - the Fuselage kit was delivered!  It took 8.5hrs to inventory everything, and a few small items were missing as usual (just blind rivets, bolts, and washers) ... but, even after receiving the missing items, 6 blind rivets were still the wrong size!  Lack of attention to detail that I haven't yet experienced from Van's.  Maybe they have too many orders to fill?   UPDATE - I found out from Van's that someone loaded the wrong rivet size into the bin specified for AACQ-4-3 blind rivets, and thus why my order was wrong (twice).  No worries, at least I was able to help them get to the bottom of this.  So, anyone with AACQ-4-3 rivets should check the length.

The parts list is daunting - far more items than even the wing kit -- this is going to be the most involved kit yet.  After finishing the inventory, I started working on the forward and mid fuselage bulkheads, which are nearly complete.  Specifically, I performed the following tasks this week:

- separated and deburred bulkhead bars; deburred and dimpled bulkhead side channels
- worked on F-01405 bulkhead assembly
- finished F-01405 bulkhead (riveted bulkhead bars together and then bolted to bulkhead)
- attached side angles to aft center section bulkhead; deburred, double-flush riveted, and primed both bearing bracket assemblies
- deburred, drilled, and dimpled cover ribs; riveted nutplates to cover ribs; assembled bearing brace assemblies; countersink flanges of forward center section bulkhead; riveted nutplates to upper flange of bulkhead; riveted and bolted side angles to bulkhead; bolted and clecoed cover ribs to bulkhead

She's finally here: