Small build session. I prep’d the vans stock ADAHRS tray for priming. I also touched up some scratches I had in the primer under the top skin from when I was driving some of the rivets previously.
I started in on riveting the F-7112 top skin. I had asked for a neighbours help with riveting. As I want to rivet from the middle out to the ends, I do need a little help with getting the rivets set. I have my wood floor set up in the fuselage, so I crawled in and laid on my back with the bucking bar, and my neighbour used the gun. I'm really happy with how it turned out.
After experiencing how relatively easy accessing the area behind the storage bulkhead is with my custom floor boards I want to close in the fuselage sooner rather than later. Now that I have all the edges of the F-7112 aft top skin marked out. I removed the top skin and marked off all the areas. I then scuffed all the mating surfaces with scotchbrite, cleaned with MEK and then primed.
Today I was keen on getting the forward top skin installed on the fuselage. I need to mark out the holes/alignment for the F-7105 center rib and in my opinion the only way to get it set correctly is to install the entire upper forward fuselage assembly. Once The assembly went together. I used a small square on the top of the firewall angle and set/marked the F-7105 center rib.
I finally received an email back from Vans support about my question on using cherry max for the 10 forward rivets in the F-695 gusset that I was reluctant to set solo. Knowing how critical of an area it was...I do not want to mess this up.
While the email did not say no to the cherry rivets, it was not a great email. Perhaps it wasn't a fuzzy feel good email that I was hoping for, Maybe it was my mood, maybe it was the way I read the email, but it did nothing to alleviate my anxiety about riveting this area. I was soo pissed off. Out of shear anger I went out into garage and tried to set the rivets solo. Worst case....I can drill the bad ones out and use cherry max.
I used the AN470 solid rivets and by a complete stroke of luck, all of them set extremely well. Amazing cause I had to use the angled portion of the bucking bar which is always sketchy for me.
Very small build day. I stated to fit the F-7112 aft top skin so that I can trace all of the edges out. I can then remove and prime the mating surfaces.
One small item that I need to eventually complete is to finish the remaining 10 rivets in the forward gussets at the fire wall. I didn't get a chance to do them yesterday with Mike, and given the difficult accessibility of the area I'm reluctant to attempt bucking these solo. Its a pretty critical area. I will send an email off to Van's to see about the use of Cherry Max rivets for this.
Next, I started to install the static line. I really did not want to use zip ties as the plans suggest, so I used adel clamps instead. Much more professional looking and less chance for chafing in my opinion. Getting the static line around the seat belt anchor plate was fun.
Huge day on the build today. I have my buddy Mike coming over to help me with riveting the Aft top skin on the aircraft. Of course I riveted a good portion of the aft top skin (What I could do solo) but I will need his help to rivet the spots that I just can’t do myself.
Before he comes over, I really need to get the metal clips that hold the static line fabricated. Another small job that I have procrastinated on. I cut all of the strips according to the dimensions on the drawing, and purposely left them long.
Next is a really tricky part. Getting the bend to continue to essentially a full 270 degrees. I used a piece of 2x2 and clamped it onto the assembly with the 1/4” drill bit in place. A few hammer hits here and there. We have the basic shape!
A bit more work tweaking with the drill bit, blocks, clamps and hammer and we are there. I trimmed the long piece off and we are ready to drill the 3/32” rivet hole and prime
Mike arrived and we started in riveting. Of course we decided to do the messy riveting first. The gascolator doubler needs to be installed with proseal to mitigate water ingress. In case I forgot about how much I hate proseal, this reminded me about it. Was a mess. I just need to give it another spray of primer to clean it up
Next we need to finish the riveting of the mid line of the aft top skin. Since I have long arms I can reach in to hold the bucking bar. But holding the gun at the same time is a stretch. With Mike on the gun it was easy peasy.
So very interesting...My first small batch of paint didn’t mix right and the paint never really dried. I think when I depressed the underside of the 2K can it wasn't good enough. Only affected a handful of parts. Since the paint didn’t set correctly, it easily wipes off with acetone (epoxy primer stayed completely in-tact). After a little be of re-prep. I re-sprayed a handful of parts and things are looking very good.
Well the day has finally arrived. I am ready to start painting the interior of the aircraft. For now I will just start painting the pieces first.
I need to give the parts a light coat of epoxy primer (to cover all of the exposed rivets, hardware, etc). Everything got a wipe down with acetone, then a spray with epoxy primer.
