Fitting custom fuel lines from TS flight lines - 2 hours

 My order from TS flightlines arrived and they do look great. I ordered a custom J-tube and an S-Tube to fit the Aerolab gascolator. They do look great and the tight radius are really good. However I soon found that the J-tube interferes with the spar when fitted to the stock position of the fuel selector hole.

My thoughts circled to making a new fuel selector plate and pushing the selector switch forward which then fixes the issue of the spar. However, the J-tube itself is too short in height. The selector plate would have to be lowered quite far to make it work. Looks like its about 3/8" short in height.

Unfortunately I won't be able to use any of these. Its a shame. Tom at TS flightlines was so wonderful to deal with and the workmanship of the tubes is great, but unfortunately his RV setup and mine are just too different.

Tom's pieces did give me the information I could then use to fashion my own custom tubes. Using the now 'samples' I fashioned my own J-tube. And the fit is excellent. Albeit not as tight as Tom can get to but I can work with what I got.

  

Started bolting the right gear weldment - 3 hours

 Checking the final fitting of the right weldment, its looking really good for the interfering rivet. 

I do notice that I have a very slight gap where the forward most flange sits against the side of the fuselage. Its very small, and it way less then the 1/16" maximum allowed by the instructions. I removed the gear and tried my best to tweek the fit to close up the gap. I did make a template for the flange, so if needed I can make a shim if needed in the future. 

As I have the bolt recipe figured out, that part of the installation went really well.    

Started bolting the left gear weldment - 3.5 hours

I need to get the weldments bolted in if I want to start on the fuel system. Can't be bent over reaching into the plane without something sturdy to put my weight on. 

I had some last minute adjustments to make on that pesky rivet interference. Fit wasn't there yet, so out the left weldment came for more filing.  Its ugly, but nobody ever see it and most important it now fits great.

Once I was ready to bolt the weldments in, it becomes very apparent that the hardware callout in the plans is not correct. The AN4-12A bolts with the AN960-416 washer is clearly too short. 

 

Even with the thin AN960-416L washer, its just too short still.

So without question I need to go up a bolt size to AN4-13A. With that, I am now battling the bolt size being just a tad too long. 

I want to be careful that I do not bottom the nuts out on the bolt...and it looks close. So, I ran the scenario of adding an additional thin AN960-416L washer.

At this point its important to note that I do not have a washer under the bolt head with this two scenarios...So then the choice is obvious that the bottom option with two washer is the one to proceed with. An AN4-13A bolt...A AN960-416L washer under the head. Through the weldment and spar. An AN960-416 washer and the nut. The result is perfect. 

 

Getting the washer slipped in behind the weldment on the one hole along the bottom was a true pain the the rear. I ended up making a washer holder out of safety wire and I was then able to slip the washer into place and then slide the bolt in. I make it sound so quick and easy....it wasn't, but it worked.

I used this washer arrangement for all of the weldment holes, except for the one hole that requires the long AN4-34A bolt. That bolt also gave me a bit of grief...it was a tad too long. I added a second AN960-416 washer and that is excellent.

So the weldments are nearly all bolted in. I will drill the sides and bolt those in at a later date.

More riveting on the rear aft top skin - 5 hours

 Its very slow going riveting solo, but I'm really happy with how well its turned out. The fit of the top skin with the fuse is excellent and makes up for me forgetting to edge roll those areas. The first session of riveting I was able to do most of the longeron line on both sides.

After supper I kept going and managed to finish most of the j-stiffener rivets.  By the end, I did all that I could solo...The rest I will need the help of a bucking partner so that I don't screw anything up. (Notice the odd rivets not done on the left side of the longeron?...I still need to make and install the static line clips)

Starter riveting the aft top skin - 3 hours

 This was a difficult decision for me - Do I start riveting the top skins now or leave them for a while? After some research I finally decided that I will rivet the F-775 rear top skin and leave the F-7112 aft top skin off. 

First step is to rivet the F-787 stiffener web to the F-707B angle clip.

 

Next the F-775 rear top skin was cleaco'd on and then I began riveting the aft most rivet line. Always a little tricky to rivet around a curve, but I managed it just fine. 

Priming the Aft Top Skins - 6 hours

Another nice day out, so perfect time to get some priming done. Since the aft top skins are not subjected to wear, I will use the self etching primer as opposed to epoxy primer. 

I cleaned and dimpled all of the top skin parts. Scuffed accordingly and then primed all pieces. Only item that I forgot and I'm really annoyed with myself is that I didn't edge roll the top skins. I've edge rolled everywhere else but not this...darn.

 

The outstanding area that needs to be addressed is on the sides of the fuselage where the aft top skin overlaps the fuselage needs to have some primer applied. So, I took care of it. 

Preparing the aft top skin structure - 2 hours

 Since it was such a nice day out, I wanted to pull the plane out onto the driveway. I’ve been wanting to do that for a very long time. I think at this point is doesn't quite look like a much of a plane yet, but I think it’s cool

Today I choose to start prepping the aft top skin structure. All of the bulkheads where de-burred and primer was touched up.