29 - Fwd Mid Fuse Side Str. (attached air vents; fuselage complete!); 12 - Empennage Fairings (trimmed bottom rudder fairing); planned wing transport to hangar

The last couple of weeks hasn't seen much work because I am finished with the first 3 kits, minus the fiberglass work and attachment of the tail fins and wings to the fuselage, and am waiting for the Finish kit.  I spent some of the time placing a few orders, to make sure that I have everything before COVID-19 takes over the manufacturing and transport industries (okay, probably not). I also received the propeller - that's quite a large item, still sitting in its box in the living room.  I secured a hangar, and will be moving my wings there in a few weeks.  In order to move the wings, I had to design a set of transport cradles, which I did during this down time.  I'll post the cradles and details of the wing transport in a few weeks.  I finished attaching the air vent assemblies to the fuselage using RTV silicone, and then cleaned and reorganized my area in preparation for some initial fiberglass work. After 1 hour of trimming the rudder bottom fairing, and getting fairly itchy, I doubt a mostly fiberglass airplane is ever in my future.  The best news is that I received the bill of lading from the transport company for the Finish Kit today!  Hopefully, I'll get that delivery in the next 7-10 days, because I'm eager to get back to building.  A few pics, below:

Air vents, assembled and ready for mounting:

29 - Fwd Mid Fuse Side Str (air vents); 37 - Roll Over Structure (finished); Firewall Fwd kit (inventory)

I received the FWF kit this week - damn, there are a lot more parts than I had anticipated.  Only one part was slightly damaged (flange of oil cooler was bent), and The Mothership said I could either gently whack it back into shape, or send it back for a replacement.  I might try a gentle whacking - and yes, that does sound bad.

The remainder of the time since the last post has been to install and paint the roll bar and roll bar brace, do a few odds-and-ends, and figure out how to mount the air vents.  Surprisingly, the air vent assemblies have NO rivets!  I guess RTV silicone will be enough to hold them in place in most instances ... but, that just doesn't sit well with me.  So, I decided that one single blind MK-319-BS rivet that attaches the aft vent flange to the side skin would be apropos.  Most importantly, it will help with alignment when attaching - I've seen a few vents that were attached crookedly, or slid down as the silicone (or proseal) hardened, and I just didn't want to take that chance.  At any rate, here are details of what has been accomplished since the last post:

- Riveted roll bar assemblies to roll bar straps and window shims; attached bushings and bushing doublers on aft roll bar assembly; clecoed roll bar and roll bar brace to fuselage; match-drilled #30 holes into roll bar bases; deburred holes; reinstalled roll bar on roll bar bases; primed and painted roll bar brace (since tough to spray underside once attached to fuselage)
- Riveted roll bar and brace to fuselage; attached fwd bushing doublers and bushings and covers; masked for painting; separated, dimpled and fluted skin stiffeners
- primed and painted roll bar and brace
- riveted skin stiffeners, and finished working on control column travel to get both sides to hit stops at the same time.  Have ~15deg travel forward and 23.1deg aft
- received new air vents (SV-10) since the old ones were too short; re-prepped the vents, test-fit, scuffed, and am figuring out the best way to attach (likely with a few pop rivets that center the vents prior to applying clear RTV - this is a paint without rivet holes, so I’m going to put at least one in the alum. flange and 2 in the plastic vent
- Received FWF kit!!!   inventory for FWF kit (started)
- inventory for FWF kit (finished); emailed Van’s regarding missing/damaged items (very few); inventoried Airwolf remote oil filter package, too
- figured out attachment for air vent assembly, which involves one MK-319-BS pop rivet to attach the aft flange to the skin (will aid in alignment); cut vent assemblies; primed and painted vent assemblies

Match-drilling roll bar bases:

29 - Fwd Mid Fuse Side Str (Finished); 30 - Aft Fuse Attachment (almost finished "The Big Join"!)

My wife said "there's a lot of 'wifey effort' that hasn't been documented yet on your blog" ... so I figured I better post something today.  She's in the pics below, helping me do "The Big Join" (term coined by Ken B.) of the aft fuselage and the mid/fwd fuselage parts. With a lot of planning, and a nicely crafted fuselage cradle (see last 2 posts), AND most importantly having assisted Ken B. with his 14A's Big Join in January, the process was fairly straightforward.  Riveting the two parts, however, has been a bit of a pain in the ass.  All but the last 37 rivets have been set.  Here are some of the tasks completed during the past ~10 days:

- Drilled, deburred, and riveted gussets to longeron and seat back brace; riveted intercostals to skin, longeron, and seat back brace; bolted roll bar bases to fuselage
- Prepared left and right vent assemblies (will install after section 35)
- deburred and dimpled F-1406 bulkheads; riveted nutplates to bulkheads; test-fit bulkheads to aft fuselage; reorganized workspace to position aft and forward fuselage sections for “the big join”; with my wife, joined the two fuselage halves using clecos.
- clecoed the left, right and top F-01406 bulkheads to skins and ribs and stiffeners; installed ELT antenna bracket; separated, deburred, primed, and riveted shoulder lugs and lug clips; riveted lugs to bulkheads
- riveted left, right, center top bulkheads to each other and to the skins; riveted lugs to skins (my wife helped with back-riveting in several sections)
- riveted the two halves of the fuselage together (various areas) with my wife using the back-rivet bucking bar; riveted 12 of the remaining 23 rivets in the fwd bottom skin; tested two colors of gray for the interior paint - will go with the Light Gunmetal 50 Gloss from Cardinal (A-GR10-4A05)
- riveted remaning 11 rivets in the fwd bottom skin; riveted all but 37 rivets between the aft and fwd parts of the fuselage (almost completed the Big Join) - my wife helped on these PITA rivets

Clecoed seat back brace to fuselage assembly:

DON'T FORGET TO CLICK "READ MORE" TO SEE THE OTHER UMPTEEN PICS FOR EACH POST (this message is mostly for my 80 year old mother)

29 - Fwd Mid Fuse Side Structure (finished right side; seat back brace)

Slow yet steady progress during this past week and a half.  Most of this time was spent finishing the right side of the fuselage, and while I didn't take as many pictures this time (since the right side is almost an exact mirror of the left), I specifically accomplished the following:

- started right side skin - attached to upper & lower longerons, stiffener, and (temp.) bolted longerons to firewall
- clecoed and match-drilled skin/firewall and right side shim (and deburred and dimpled); final drilled all #30 holes common to skin and longerons; final-drilled holes common to skin/center section/ upper drag fitting (and deburred); broke edges of right side skin; radiused top edge of skin; feathered upper aft corner of skin; dimpled right side skin; deburred edges of vent and other cutouts
- countersunk and re-primed countersunk holes in right longerons; riveted right roll bar angle to intercostal; riveted fuselage side ribs to skin; riveted drag fitting and center section side plate to skin; riveted stiffener to skin; installed skin to fuselage; bolted upper and lower longerons (temp) to bulkhead
- prepped stiffeners and other bits for the right side skin structure; riveted canopy latch brackets to side skin; prosealed and clecoed right skin to firewall and right upper longeron
started riveting right side skin to the fuselage, ribs, stiffeners, etc. (used back-rivet bucking bar for as much as possible)
- almost finished riveting right side skin and associated parts to fuselage assembly
- Finished riveting right side skin except for 23 rivets common to the bottom skin; Riveted web stiffeners to bulkhead assemblies; riveted nutplates to center right bottom skin and root fairing attach angles; riveted root fairing attach angles to right side skin; reinstalled bulkhead bar assembly (right)
- fabricated seat back adjustment guides, and assembled seat back brace

Temporarily attached the right skin to match-drill a few holes in the engine mount brackets:

29 - Fwd Mid Fuse Side Structure (finished left side)

Section 29 is long and involved - after over 50hrs, I've only finished the left side (for now) and tomorrow I'll start the right.  But, it is looking more and more like a fuselage each day, which is motivating.  The following were accomplished since the last post:

- re-primed countersunk holes in left longerons (upper and lower); riveted left roll bar angle to intercostal; riveted fuselage side ribs to skin; riveted drag fitting and center section side plate to skin; riveted stiffener to skin; installed skin to fuselage; prepped stiffeners and other bits for the side skin structure; riveted canopy latch brackets to side skin; prosealed and clecoed skin to firewall and upper longeron
- riveted left side skin to a whole lot of shit (used back-rivet bucking bar for as much as possible)
finished riveting left side skin (for now), with the help of my wife who riveted the bottom forward flange of the left side skin to the bottom forward left skin (while I bucked from inside; yes it was a pain)
- riveted armrest, and front skin stiffeners to skin (my wife helped with some of the back-rivet bucking); riveted center section channel; riveted roll bar angle; riveted flap block bracket; prepared root fairing attach angles
- riveted web stiffeners to bulkhead assemblies; riveted nutplates to center bottom skin and root fairing attach angles; riveted root fairing attach angles to left side skin; reinstalled bulkhead bar assembly (left)

Riveted fuselage side ribs to left skin:

29 - Fwd Mid Fuse Side Structure (designed and built fuselage cradle; installed control column assembly; working on side skin and longerons)

The fuselage is very large, and only getting larger, and thus working on a table was started to get unwieldy.  Moreover, I was interested in a device that would help with the eventual "big join" to the aft fuselage, and afford the ability to install the canopy next year.  I therefore decided to design a cradle that would hold the fuselage 16" off the ground, which enables me to work on the fuselage without a step stool, and most importantly, enables the eventual joining of the aft fuselage.  The 16" height (floor to base of fuselage) was chosen in part because of the finishing kit, in which I'll have to attach and fully open the canopy in my 8' 2" garage as part of the canopy installation. Ideally, I would have liked a 20" height for the cradle ... but then I wouldn't be able to open the canopy completely.

Specifically, I did the following during the last week and half:

- designed and constructed a cradle for the fuselage; riveted last 7 rivets of bottom skins; placed fuselage on cradle; cleaned workspace for next part of section
- installed control column assembly - torqued bolts, but one side bound a tiny bit (add a washer, below); trimmed L and R longerons; started deburring edges of longerons
- finished deburring longerons; twisted longerons 10deg each (permanent twist); match-drilled upper engine mount bracket; primed upper longeron assembly; trimmed lower longeron
- riveted upper engine mount brackets to upper longerons; drilled, deburred, primed, and riveted lower longeron assemblies; clecoed upper and lower longeron assemblies to left skin; match-drilled #30 holes in upper engine mount bracket and upper drag fitting and center side section
- removed left skin and center side section and longerons; countersunk side section and longerons; deburred edges of skin; added a thin washer to the control column assembly - NOW it moves perfectly with no binding, with all bolts/nuts torqued to spec
- dimpled left side skin; radiused outboard edge; put break on 4 edges; prepped stiffeners
- prepped a bunch of other ribs/brackets/stiffeners/arm rest and roll bar angles; primed roll bar angles


Here is a picture of the completed cradle, minus carpet padding.  Note that the aft horizontal 2x4 piece is angled slightly (using shims) to match the upward sloping angle of the back part of the mid fuselage.  The front of the fuselage (i.e. firewall) would rest on rightmost 2x4:

28 - Fwd Fuse Lower Structure (completed); 29 - Fwd Mid Fuse Side Structure (mated forward and center sections)

The past week and a half were fairly productive.  I also received a couple major shipments of parts, including the WH-000125-3 fuselage wiring harness from SteinAir, and fuel and brake lines from Aircraft Specialty.  Both companies produce top-notch products that I would be unable to duplicate in my humble home workshop.  Items that were accomplished include:

- countersunk, primed and riveted tunnel angle (F14132); joined muffler and firewall assemblies; riveted tunnel sides and cover bases to forward bottom skins; riveted and bolted center section bulkhead to firewall/muffler assembly
- back-riveted cover ribs to forward bottom skins (with my wife); riveted cover base webs to cover ribs; prepared firewall penetration fittings (waiting for another section of proseal, so won’t waste tube); cut and polished stainless steel vent hinges
- drilled and dimpled hinges for vents; deburred and primed vents, sides and arms; riveted vent door assemblies and inlet assemblies and cable brackets to firewall; countersunk and riveted battery box to firewall
- installed cover panels and nutplates on cover panels; broke down the fuselage crate for trash (still need to proseal and attach the firewall penetration fittings)
- prepped and primed the skin overlaps between center bottom and forward bottom skins
- joined front and middle fuselage halves; removed bulkhead bar assemblies; primed lower gear braces; attached brass elbows to gear braces (for brake fluid); attached gear braces, lower and upper drag fittings with bolts; clecoed center section side plates; final-torqued bolts in upper and lower drag fittings
- match-drilled #40 holes in upper drag fitting; removed and deburred center section side plates; re-clecoed side plates
- fabricated wooden stand to put fuselage on its side; prepared workshop for fuselage move to floor
- moved fuselage to floor (standing on side); clecoed every hole; riveted all holes (except for muffler shroud) with my wife helping with all parts that were back-riveted; prosealed muffler shroud and firewall penetration fittings; attached two nutplates

Here are the main wiring harnesses from SteinAir (doesn't look like much for $1300 ... but this would have taken me forever to make, and I'd probably screw up multiple times);