Fwd fuselage

Riveted together fwd fuselage and replaced the rivets that were too long with bucked rivets. I also had to countersink a few bolts. Other bolts will have an extremely tight fit, and probably will need to be filed a bit.

All this modding makes the primer a bit dirty, and to spray with clear does not seem like such a good idea anymore (probably never were). I think I will use some colored polyurethane instead.

Fwd Fuselage

More riveting on the fwd fuselage. Some rivets will block the bolts!! Rather incredible that Sonex has not fixed stuff like that. Luckily I have tons of bucked rivets and will replace the pulled ones that does not fit.

  

Fwd fuselage

Riveted the other side of the fuselage. Noticed that there started to be few rivets left, and started to count. There were several hundred rivets lacking. Before writing an angry mail to Sonex, I checked the dark corners of the shop, and of course I found a box named "Flush Rivet Wing kit" :-)

Fwd fuselage and engine

Riveted together the right side. Got message from Sonex today. My engine will be sent 17 november, a couple of months later than promised first, but I got more than enough things to do anyway, so no big deal for me.

Fwd fuselage

Pulled the rivets in the aft fuselage for the seat back. Deburred and primed all the internals for the fwd fuselage with the U-pol Acid #8. Will just leave the internals in the priming color and spray over with clear paint when finished. I think some 2k rattle can will be OK.

Wing spars bolted on

Fuselage, spars

The aft fuselage required lots of trimming to get the aft spar inserted.

Fwd and aft fuselage

Mated the fwd and aft fuselage. Yet another faulty part from the machined angle components kit. This time it was the large lower splice piece, one on each side that has the pilot holes 2-3 mm wrong. Ordered more aluminium from ACS.

Some deburring and countersinking/dimpling to do first. Then while waiting for the aluminium sheet to make new components, I think I will drill up the holes for the wing spars and seat etc. Starting to look like a real aircraft.

I am starting to have a real problem now - too little space in the shop. I wonder how to fix that without totally redoing the shop.

Fwd fuselage

Started deburring and countersinking the pieces before mating together the fwd and aft fuselage.

Main gear

Updrilled to AN5 size using a reamer the final step.

Main gear

Speculated a lot how to drill the main gear to get it straight and also get the holes perpendicular. Ended up using the fwd main gear support angle to steer three holes that I hand drilled 4-5 mm into the main legs, but upside down. Then I put it upside down under the fuselage and pre-drilled (marked) the rest of the holes. Then I took it in the drill press, and got perfectly perpendicular pilot holes. When I test-mounted, it fitted perfectly. Have to up-drill the holes for the AN5 bolts.

Fwd fuselage

Drilled more holes, also for bolts. Found out (too late) that one of the holes in the corner will be impossible to use. They are too close to other bolts. They can be be inserted the opposite way.

Fwd fuselage

Drilled up all the holes to 1/8 (at least the ones I know shall be 1/8). The nice step by step map "stops working" here for countersunk rivets. Used lots of time just studying the drawings to find out where and what to countersink, and in what order in relation to the drawings. I think I got it sorted out, and I also have to mate the aft and fwd fuselage to do it.

Fwd Fuselage

These angle-things for the firewall required massive trimming. They all needed to be straightened up because the angle was off on either side, then lots of trimming of the edges. When that was done they fitted perfectly.

Fwd fuselage

More fwd fuselage. Rather confusing these gussets or what they are called in English.

Fwd fuselage

Got the new countersinking tool and finished dimpling and countersinking the fwd fuselage sides.

Broke the countersinking bit

Started countersinking the angles for the fwd fuselage and managed to break the countersinking tool because the angle slipped on the support. 2 new 120 degree tools ordered at Avery tools.

Fwd fuseage

Started drilling the sides on the fwd fuselage.

Fuselage tail finished

Finished riveting the fuselage tail cone and turtle deck. The picture was a bit poor. The skin is really perfectly smooth, it is the reflection that makes it look like it is dented all over.

Found this strange rivet among the others. It appears to be SS but with a rusty stem, hmm

Started on the front fuselage. Deburred all edges and drilles some pilot holes. Have to study the drawing some more, because following the drawing will not work with countersunk rivets here either.