Assemble
3/28/23 - 1.4h
3/29/23 - 1.7h
4/4/23 - 0.7h
4/5/23 - 1.7h
4/6/23 - 2.0h
You may have noticed there is a gap of about a week in this step. That is because my fuselage kit arrived on March 30th! I spent the week unpacking and inventorying parts, and disassembling the shipping crate. The fuselage kit was delivered about a month earlier than expected, and approximately 2 months before I'll complete the wing tasks. I definitely won't complain about an early delivery, and I'm anxious to get started on the fuselage!

Flap assembly continues with the nose and top skins. The nose and top skins are riveted to the top spar flange. I started in the middle of the spar and worked outward in both directions from there with the rivet gun and bucking bar. I switched to the hand squeezer for the final rivet at each end of the spar. It's important to note that the rivets at the main ribs are longer than the ones between the ribs.

Riveting the top skins to the ribs involves three different techniques. The forward six rivets on each of the interior ribs are set with the rivet gun and bucking bar. A lot of care is required to avoid damaging the skins since there isn't much surface on the rib flanges for the rivet gun and bucking bar. The rivet squeezer has good access to the exterior ribs with good results. Finally, the aft two rivets on each rib, including the exterior ribs, are set by back-riveting. The ribs have gaps in the flanges opposite the holes for back-riveting, but the gaps are not large enough for the back spring-guard. I ended up using a very small diameter flush set, and held the rib against the skin during the process by hand. The back rivets turned out good, and it's on to the bottom skin!
[3x Rivet Gun & Bucking Bars, Flush (Mushroom) Rivet Set, Back-Rivet Set and Plate, Hand Squeezer, Flat Squeezer Set]