The construction of the fuselage starts with assembling the firewall and bulkhead assemblies. These are fun to work on after spending so long working on the wings. Even though I'm still a long way off, starting the fuselage sure seems like a big milestone towards putting some air under the wings.
Total Construction Time: 86 hours
January 16, 2007
My fuselage kit arrived today!!! Lots of fun parts to get started on if I can ever finish up the flaps one of these days. Hopefully it will warm up a little so the garage isn't so cold.
February 12, 2007 (2 hours)
I have my flap parts ready for priming, but I decided to wait until it warms up in a month or so. So I decided to get started on the fuselage. The instructions suggest starting with deburring and fluting the ribs and balkhead parts. Instead I've decided I'll do those parts as I need them. Got a start clecoing the angles, weldments and firewall recess in place.
February 17, 2007 (2 hours)
Today I fabricated a few parts that attach to the firewall assembly and began match drilling the stiffener angles to the firewall.
February 18, 2007 (5 hours)
Match drilled the rest of the stiffeners and other parts of the firewall. Next I disassembled the firewall assembly and deburred the rivet holes in the firewall using a steel bit chucked in my cordless drill. Then I countersunk all the rivet holes in the stiffener angles and plates, and dimpled the firewall and recess. Too late I realized the fuel pump stiffener plate is only for a carbureted engine, and I'm thinking I want to go with fuel injection. Not a big deal, I can simply cover the holes later if I go F.I.
February 19, 2007 (2 hours)
Started working on the F-904 bulkhead, which is the part where the main wing spars attach to. To start I needed to drill eight 5/8" diameter holes for rudder and trim cable runs and electrical wires. I took a lot of time getting these holes positioned. Then I attached the vertical sections to the ends of the foreward and aft spar sections, using the close-tolerance wing bolts to get an exact fit.
February 21, 2007 (2 hours)
Spent a couple of hours final deburring the parts that attach to the firewall. I'm hoping the weather this weekend will allow me to get the garage warm enough to prime these and the flap parts.
February 22, 2007 (1 hour)
Deburred the edges of the four cover support brackets that attach to the forward spar section.
February 23, 2007 (1 hour)
Prepped some of the bulkhead parts for priming.
February 25, 2007 (1 hour)
Primed the parts that attach to the firewall along with all the flap parts.
March 4, 2007 (5 hours)
Now that my flaps are done I got back to working on the fuselage. This morning I deburred the edges of the firewall and then clecoed all the parts that attach to it in preparation for riveting. Later in the evening I riveted all the angles and weldments to the firewall. The firewall recess will be attached much later.
March 7, 2007 (1 hour)
Decided to fabricate all the miscellaneous angles and other parts for all of the bulkheads. Got started by cutting a few of the parts made from 0.063x3/4"x3/4" angle.
March 8, 2007 (2 hours)
Spent an hour in the early morning and another hour in the evening cutting and deburring most of the rest of the parts. It will be really nice to have all these parts done when working on the bulkheads.
March 9, 2007 (2 hours)
Finished up making the rest of the various parts that attach to the bulkheads. Included are the bars that attach the wing rear spars to the fuselage, so I took a lot of time getting those just the right length. The picture also shows some of the F905 bulkhead parts together for the first time.
March 10, 2007 (3 hours)
Drilled and countersunk the rivet holes in the F-904G vertical bars that attach to the center spar section. Also match drilled and deburred the rest of the aft spar section and F-906D rivet holes and then riveted these and the vertical bars together. The vertical bars are the longest rivets used so far, AN426AD4-14's. Despite this, these could be longer because the rivet heads end up closer to AD3 sized. I posted on the VAF forums and other builders confirmed that this isn't a problem because these two rivets just hold the bar in place until the bolts are later attached through the vertical bars.
March 11, 2007 (6 hours)
Temps got into the 50's today and I spent much of the morning and early afternoon in the aircraft manufacturing facility (also known as the garage). This area is a little complex, and mistakes could be tough to correct. Drilled the control column mounts that attach to the aft spar section, then trimmed a bunch of excess material from the flanges per Van's directions. I don't use the scotch-brite wheels all that much, but the one I have attached to my die grinder worked great to smooth out the cut marks from my band saw. Next I match drilled, deburred and riveted the F-904C's and forward spar section together. I also countersunk the nut plate rivet holes along the top of the spar sections and riveted the nut plates in place. After that I worked on drilling the web stiffeners and cover support ribs, including drilling the larger holes that get various grommets for electrical and fuel lines. I decided to wait on drilling the 1/4" dia. hole that holds a bolt with a spacer between the top of the forward and aft spar sections. Not sure how to get the holes aligned just right yet. Finally I attached the two center section side plates in place to hold the forward and aft sections in position for a picture or two.
March 12, 2007 (1 hour)
Temps were close to 60 today, so I spent most of the evening cleaning up the garage. Later I brought some of the F-905 bulkhead parts in the house and marked them in prep for drilling rivet holes and trimming to final size.
March 13, 2007 (2 hours)
Tonight I drilled all the rivet and bolt holes in the rear spar carry through and doubler bars. I drilled a few of the rivet holes at a slight angle, which I'm pretty sure won't be a problem, but am mulling over replacing.
March 14, 2007 (2 hours)
Bent the 4° angle in the two flat strips that attach on top of the bulkhead frame, then drilled these and the spacer strips that go under them.
March 15, 2007 (1 hour)
This morning I drilled the rivet holes in the two angle pieces that are riveted to the top rear of the bulkhead and catch the seat frame.
March 18, 2007 (2 hours)
Wrote Van's about the angled holes in the rear spar carry through and they said it would be just fine. I decided to replace them anyways, so I ordered the parts this morning. Later I assembled the next bulkhead which is right behind the baggage area. This is also where the elevator bellcrank attaches. First I fluted the bulkhead parts to get them to lie close to flat. Next I match drilled the stiffening angles to the vertical and lateral ribs that attach to the bulkhead. Then I assembled it and match drilled the rest of the holes.
March 19, 2007 (2 hours)
Tonight I spent time drilling all the holes for the rudder cables, static tubing and electrical runs in the F-706, F-707, and F-708 bulkhead parts. I also fluted and match drilled the F-707 and F-708 bulkhead halves and fluted the single piece F-709 and F-710 bulkheads. They aren't kidding when they say the instructions get pretty brief when you get to the fuselage. Basically they say to align the parts and rivet them together. This is fine as most of the information you need is on the drawings and figuring out the steps is pretty straightforward.
March 20, 2007 (1 hour)
This morning before work I drilled most of the rivet holes in the vertical bars that attach to the F-711 bulkhead. To avoid more angled holes in the thicker material I used clamped and used my drill press for all of the holes.
March 21, 2007 (2 hours)
Today I drilled the rest of the rivet holes in the vertical bars and the rivet holes in the horizontal angle that goes across the top of both the F-710 and F-711 bulkhead. I also match drilled the rivet holes that attach the two halves of those two bulkheads. Finally I tapped the hole in the AEX tie-down bar, trimmed the corners, and drilled the rivet holes through it and the bulkhead. Lot's of deburring in my near future!
March 25, 2007 (1 hour)
Spent an hour deburring bulkhead parts.
March 26, 2007 (3 hours)
Spent three hours deburring bulkhead parts.
March 28, 2007 (2 hours)
Another hour in the morning and an hour in the evening deburring bulkhead parts.
March 29, 2007 (2 hours)
And another hour in the morning and an hour in the evening deburring bulkhead parts. My replacement parts for the rear spar attachment arrived today. Fedex took a week to get the parts here from when Van's shipped them. Also bought a new heavy duty vise and a 58 oz. rubber mallet to get ready to bend the longerons. I also bought three heavy duty sets of saw horse brackets to support the fuselage.
March 30, 2007 (2 hours)
Finished up more of the bulkhead parts, excluding the seat back/rear spar carry-through bulkhead.
March 31, 2007 (7 hours)
Finished deburring the remaining two bulkhead parts and then got to work on re-doing the rear spar carry-though/seat back bulkhead with the new parts. First I drilled the rivet and bolt holes in the rear spar carry through bars and fabricated the spacers. The first time around I found that when drilling through up to a half-inch thickness of aluminum, even a small misalignment comes out the other side off more than I wanted. This time I used my drill press for all the holes to keep them perpendicular to the parts. I also cut and bent the plates at the top of the bulkhead for holding the seat backs in place, then match drilled the rivet holes. Later I drilled the holes in four of the seat belt brackets. Spent a little time studying the plans to see what little tasks I still need to do before priming and riveting all these bulkhead parts together.
April 1, 2007 (6 hours)
This morning I carefully aligned the other half of the seat belt brackets in place and drilled the holes. I also marked where I'll have to trim the brackets for the floor rib and rivet interference spots. I also drilled the flap bearing blocks as well as the holes in the side bulkhead frame parts for the rudder cable pass-through. I later trimmed the rear spar doubler bars and then finished all the rest of the match drilling and deburring of the remaining bulkhead parts. Tomorrow I'll review all the drawings and the book to see if I've missed anything, then start getting ready to prime the parts.
April 2, 2007 (2 hours)
Spent a couple of hours this evening reviewing each piece against the plans. There were a few dimples and countersinks I knew were remaining, plus I added two wiring holes in one of the bulkhead parts. There's 64 parts I have ready for priming. No wonder the deburring seemed to go on forever.
April 5, 2007 (5 hours)
Spent about four hours cleaning/prepping all the bulkhead parts. I'm using red scotchbrite pads and the AFS/Steward Systems etch/cleaner. I also realized that I only had less than a quarter of a quart left of the primer. I picked out all the rear bulkhead parts, hoping I'd have enough for those, but I only had one side of them shot before I ran out (doh!). I ordered more from Aircraft Spruce with two-day delivery. Looks like I'll be getting started on longeron bending tomorrow.
April 9, 2007 (2 hours)
My new jar of primer arrived today so this evening I sprayed the rest of the bulkhead parts. It shouldn't take long to rivet the bulkheads together now.
April 11, 2007 (2 hours)
Riveted the F-706, F-707 and F-708 bulkhead parts together.
April 12, 2007 (1 hour)
Began riveting the F-705 bulkhead parts together.
April 13, 2007 (1 hour)
Finished the F-705 bulkhead rivets and a few miscellaneous other parts.
April 14, 2007 (2 hours)
Finished the rest of the bulkhead riveting.
