September 12, 2005 - Aft Fuselage

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.
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.
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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