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.
Making the first 90 degree bend is easy enough.
I then used a 1/4” drill bit to continue the bend.
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.
