September 12, 2005 - Aft Fuselage |
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I took the day off from work and my Dad and I spent most of the day working on the RV. I trimmed a little off the trailing edge of each J-stringer, then was able to cleco the tailcone/F-711 bulkhead/F-712 bulkhead into the aft fuselage assembly for the very first time. | ||||||
Despite all the trouble I had with the tailcone and bulkheads, the thing
fit into the fuselage reasonably well.
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But don't forget to put in the F-710 bulkhead first! Don't ask me how I know that. | ||||||
If you'd spent as much time as I have on this area, you'd take a lot of
pictures too.
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The WD-409 tailspring bracket is not currently installed. | ||||||
Yes, I know, I'll have to sand that scratch out. | ||||||
OK, the aft fuselage is completely clecoed together. Next step was to check for proper alignment. You can see the string and plumb bob hanging down the middle of the forward-most bulkhead. There is another plumb bob hanging from the aft-most bulkhead. Both plumb bobs were centered. I was quite happy about that, not knowing what I would have done if they were not. | ||||||
I'm drilling the J-stringers here. This single picture doesn't do
drilling the J-stringers justice. There are a lot of holes on each
J-stringer and there are four J-stringers. It took a lot of time.
Just like the instructions say, working left to right, I drilled every
fourth hole, clecoing as I went. When that was done I went back
and drilled out the unclecoed holes. You use the side skin as a
template. You know the J-stringer is centered when you can see the
sharpie line -- that you previously drew on the J-stringer -- through
the hole. My Dad and I spent two-thirds of the day drilling the
J-stringers. But they came out well.
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