30 - Aft Fuse Attachment (finished The Big Join); 31 - Fuel System (completed); 55 - Common Fuse Harness (installed); 32 - Baggage Area (flap bushings; seat hinges)

I worked on 4 different sections since the last post, with lots accomplished including finishing the fuel system and installing the common fuselage wiring harness.  The latter was a challenge - snap bushings barely fit around some of the wiring bundles; but, they do indeed fit.  SteinAir did a great job with the harness - order through them and not Van's and you'll save a few hundred bucks.  In other news, I ordered the Finishing Kit from Van's, and will be ordering the Engine/Prop from Van's very soon.  I'll also be deciding on the avionics panel, and will work with SteinAir to have their very capable team assemble something that I wouldn't dream of touching on my first build (I haven't ruled out a second project ... but, after helping me rivet the two halves of the fuselage together, my wife might have).  The following were accomplished during the past 9 days:

- finished riveting all rivets in this section.  The Big Join is complete, thanks largely to my wife!
- fuel system installed, aside from tightening the forward-most AN fitting, since the fitting gets in the way of exhaust installation
- started installing the right side of the Common Fuselage Harness; what a tight fit! Van’s couldn’t have made the holes a LITTLE bigger??  Also, the quick-connectors for the control sticks DON’T fit through the holes - I had to enlarge the holes (almost impossible to get to one of them) and shave the edges off of the rectangular connector
- finished installing both common fuselage harnesses (found a better way to up-size the three control stick wire holes on the left); also, ran the transponder/ADS-B cable, ELT cable and static line forward
- ran rudder cables as far as could go forward; redid a couple harness snap bushings; trimmed and installed outboard and inboard flap bushings; fabricated and match-drilled seatback hinges

(The pictures below are out of order, but all were taken since the last post)

Fuel system installed, thanks largely to the fuel lines supplied by Aircraft Specialty - quality products at a reasonable price:

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)