Fuselage 25-02 to 25-05

Today started with reaming the holes for the bulkhead doublers. I wasn’t looking forward to this as I had read a few horror stories on other builders’ sites. I took Vans advice in one of their revisions and only used the pillar drill. I reset the belt to it slowest setting and then propped up the piece and levelled the work.

Once the first couple of holes are reamed, the bulkhead doublers are bolted on using temporary nuts, the stiff nuts are not used until section 29 apparently. I had ordered some nuts in advance – thank goodness for Amazon…

Next the F-01404D-L Side Angles are cleco’d to the F-01404 Aft Center Section Bulkhead and riveted. The instructions say to use some AN6 bolts to help align the side panels. I used my new Excel inventory spreadsheet to find some although I’m not sure if they really are required once the panels are cleco’d on. The Heath Robinson clamp setup is the result of not having a riveting buddy!

The next job is to join the Bearing Bracket Assembly together enclosing the bearing itself. Straightforward but these are double flush riveted and using 426AD3-7 rivets I found that the shop head protruded above the countersink. I’m not sure this will make any difference as nothing appears to be flush mounted against the bracket. I used 426AD3-6 rivets for the rest which were easier to set without bending.

Various nutplates need to be attached to the cover ribs. It is quite easy to get disorientated here so I stacked the ribs in the sequence that they attach to the bulkhead.

I needed to dimple a couple of nutplates. Top tip – make sure you have both sides of the set in the pneumatic squeezer before you squeeze it up to check the gap. Expensive mistake…

The bearing bracket assemblies are riveted to the cover ribs.

The bearing brace assemblies are riveted to the bracket angles.

Last up today is to bolt, cleco and rivet the F-01403D-L Forward Center Section Side Angles to the F-01403 Forward Center Section Bulkhead.

I started to bolt on the cover ribs as well and apply torque seal to the bolts that have been tightened. I have to calculate a change from ft-lbs to NM for my torque wrench and estimate the static drag which isn’t easy to do.