Feb 19, 2024     Remedial - Damaged skin replacement - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Finished removal of the damaged skin from the right side of the aft fuselage after receiving confirmation that the replacement has been received and unpacked up at Mercury bay, now need to get up there and bring it home, at least now I can plan to get things restarted. Also verified and re-ordered the replacement LCP parts for my wing kit.

  Jul 20, 2023     Assembly, Aft Fuselage - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Completed the riveting of the left side fuselage skin to the aft fuselage, the replacement right side skin has not yet left the USA but it makes the aft fuselage easier to move around and stronger with the left skin fully attached, a bit tricky to rivet down around the curve onto the bottom skin but it looks ok.

  Jul 15, 2023     Assembly, Aft Fuselage - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Still waiting on the replacement right side skin for the aft fuselage but realised I could finish the attachment of the left side skin as I had only done the top and middle stiffners, I've put additional clecos in the right side although nothing is going to move while finishing thr attachment of the left side. I also lined up the aft fuselage with the front and got a bit of a shock as to how big the fuselage will be when joined, need to rethink where it will need to go while fitting out continues.

  Jan 09, 2023     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Rivetted together the rear fuselage aft deck ready to be installed following the right side skin repair around the access point.

  Jan 08, 2023     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

First real fabrication task, the Horizontal stabiliser attachment support angle which involves cutting material off some thick angle material to very specific dimensions.

  Jan 08, 2023     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (2 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Assembled the aft fuselage top skin section, quite an issue with the stiffner which had to be removed, fixed up and refitted. Have started on the aft fuselage deck while I await a repair scheme for the issue with the right side fuselage skin.

  Jan 04, 2023     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Deburring and priming the top skin of the aft fuselage, can't be fitted yet but making it into an assembly while I wait for the tank sealant to arrive.

  Dec 19, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - (1 hour) Category: Aft Fuselage

Rivetting of the left side skin to the bulkheads, main longeron and mid skin stiffner, rivetted down to lower stiffner just before the skin curves to form the bototm of the fuselage. Then I made a start on the right side but squeezer slipped, need to assess what is required before I go back to working on the fuselage.

  Dec 18, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - Remedial - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Redimpled the remainder of the right side skin and very happy with the way it looks, have refitted it to the tail and begun rivetting it back into place, the flush AD3 rivets are sitting down nicely in the new dimples and so far its looking really good. So far I have not had to do anything about holes that were previously rivetted, not oversize to any great degree and new rivets are going in ok.

  Dec 16, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - Remedial - (1.5 hours) Category: Aft Fuselage

Derivetted and removed the right side skin so that I can attempt to fix the incorrectly shaped dimples, has come off very cleanly with no damage so think it can be re-installed, have redimpled around the edges with a pnematic squeezer and correct dimple die set. Will use C-Frame for the holes further in from the edges. Longerson and stiffners are also OK.

  Dec 15, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - Remedial - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

First of two fixes, misread the instructions around the nutplate attachment holes and they didn't get dimpled before I started installing it, managed to fix the other side without removing the skin but not entirely happy with how that went so derivetted in the area around the nutplates on the left side to better dimple the parts then rivetted the skin back down and fitted the nutplates. The second area to fix is to pull off the right side skin and fix the dimples which weren't done correctly.

  Dec 15, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Continued to rivet the side skins to the bulkheads, longerons and skin stiffners, working down from top on flatter sections first.

  Dec 12, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - (2.5 hours) Category: Aft Fuselage

Rivetted the aft bulkhead and lower fuselage skin to tail and started on rivetting the side skins beginning at the tail and working foreward

  Dec 11, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - (2 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Worked out where the wires needed to go, not fixed yet but out of the way of the skin rivets. Fitted the aft fuselage and end bulkhead which really wasn't much fun trying to get everything lined up but managed in the end, now ready to start rivetting the structure. Note, read the instructions, I had to remove a lot of the cleco's holding the side skins in place to allow everything to move to line everything up.

  Dec 10, 2022     Aft fuselage skins - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Dimpled the left side skin and fitted it to the aft fuselage, currently trying to work out how to route the wiring loom before the skin is rivetted in place.

  Dec 09, 2022     Right hand fuselage skin preparation - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Deburred and primed the right hand skin leaving most of the vinyl on the outer surface to protect it from scratches, next step is lots of dimples before skin can be fitted to aft fuselage and permanent rivetting can start.

  Dec 06, 2022     Tail cone and aft fuselage rivetting - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Removed and replaced the rivets in the aft lower fuselage skin that were not set correctly and rivetted the aft bulkhead to the curved skin ready for it to be attached once the right side skin is put in place.

  Nov 10, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Machine countersinked both fuselage longerons, primed and installed, dimpled the lower aft fuselage skin, small curved section and attached to aftmost bulkhead ready to rivet and fit onto rear fuselage one left side skin is prepped and installed, then can rivet it all together.

  Nov 09, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Completed dimpling of right side fuselage side skin and installed onto fuselage with cleco's and stiffeners. Need to machine countersink the longeron before that can be fitted and the skin rivetted into place permanently.

  Nov 08, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (1 hour) Category: Aft Fuselage

Mostly dimpled the right side skin, lots and lots of holes to do.

  Nov 06, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Beburred and primed the right side aft fuselage skin ready to be dimpled, also finished priming the lower fuselage end skin so it can be dimpled and rear most bulkhead attached. In case anyone is wondering, yes I am working on the center section and rear fuselage at the same time, building components and prepping parts for each.

  Nov 03, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Cleaned up and primed the right side longeron and the tail cone aft skin.

  Oct 24, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Final rivetting of the skin to the stiffners, bellcrank ribs and bottom of bulkheads, mostly went well except for end of one session when bucking bar slipped so have maybe a dozen rivets out of 150+ to drill out and redo.

  Oct 22, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage assembly - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Finished dimpling and priming the bottom skin and clecoed the j-stiffeners and frames into place with the structure inverted (most of the time) on sawhorses. Have now started the rivetting, stiffeners first, then frames, then bellcrank ribs.

  Oct 21, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Completed deburring, priming and dimpling the aft fuselage bottom skin, can now begin assembly.

  Oct 17, 2022     S26 - Cabin and baggage area floor - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

First pair of seat ribs built, deburred, primed and fittings attached. These fit between F1404 and F1405 center section bulkheads, the baggage ribs attach to the back of F1405.

  Oct 15, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Preparing the side j channels for the aft fuselage and getting the lower fuselag skin ready to be primed, always like to do that before its dimpled, also did a couple of center section parts so that I have lots of things to put paint on if I put a bit too much in my spray gun.

  Oct 13, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Deburred and partially primed the last of the rear fuselage bulkheads and final rivetted the last one, nearly ready to dimple and prime the lower skin and then assembly can begin.

  Oct 11, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Completed the forward bulkhead, attaching all the nutplates then bellcrank ribs, deburred and started priming the second to last aft fuselage bulkhead

  Oct 09, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Completed the bellcrank ribs and prepared further parts, photo shows the belklcrank ribs temporarily attached to the forward most bulkhead, getting close to beginning the assembly of the tailcone.

  Oct 08, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads & parts - (1 hour) Category: Aft Fuselage

This is turning into a bit of a slog, quite a lot of parts to be cleaned up and slightly modified, then deburred and primed before assembly begins of the tail cone, but I've been reading ahead to fully understand the process and getting close to starting the trial fit/ assembly process. The extra clecos I ordered arrived today and I hope the back ordered parts actually get delivered in the next few days, held up by NZ customs.

  Oct 07, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Completed rivets on third bulkhead and deburred and primed the bellcrank ribs/ battery angle parts prior to further assembly

  Oct 05, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads - (1 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Completed the second bulkhead and prepared parts for the forward stabiliser attachment bulkhead, nice to get a good run rivetting, 30 rivets and none needed to be redone.

  Oct 03, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads - (2 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Completed the rear bulkhead rivetting and started on the stabiliser attachment bracket.

  Oct 02, 2022     S10 - Aft Fuselage bulkheads - (1.5 hours)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Final drilling and alignment of vertical stabiliser attachment points on aft bulkhead, fitting of tail tie down, ready to rivet the two bulkhead parts to make a single doubled up structure.

  Apr 28, 2022     Parts preparation, Aft Fuselage - (0.75 hour)       Category: Aft Fuselage

Deburred and straightened the horizontal stabiliser attachment bars that fit onto second bulkhead, quite rough, now ready to prime.