Wednesday, April 1, 2020 (Part 12)
Continuing from yesterday’s work.....
I started today by cleaning more parts.....separating when necessary, deburring holes and cleaning edges. Here is the F-01494D Cable Support Bracket.....
.....F-01494C Wiring Channel.....
.....F-01468-L & -R Instrument Panel Attach Brackets.....
.....F-01476 Instrument Panel Attach Plates.....
.....F-01421A-L & -R Forward Canopy Decks.....
.....and F-01421B-L & -R Aft Canopy Decks.
Alright, a lot is going on over the next several steps and the plans excerpt below is pretty busy.
First, the Left Aft Canopy Deck was clecoed to the Upper Longeron Assembly. The Aft Canopy Deck was then aligned to the outboard edge of the Fuselage Side Skin. To do this, I used the 2” Irwin blue clamps to “pinch” the Aft Canopy Deck flush with the Side Skin. I was actually surprised at how perfectly this worked out. Here is a close up of what it looked like with the five clamps in place.
Here is an overall picture.
Each one of the holes containing the sliver #40 clecos will need to be final-drilled #30. To do this, I removed the clamp directly over the hole to be drilled and moved it to the end of the row. Then, removed the silver #40 cleco, final-drilled the hole #30 and installed a copper #30 cleco.....and repeated that step for all 19 holes.
Here are all 19 holes on the left Aft Canopy Deck final-drilled to #30.
Now, the Forward Canopy Deck was clecoed to the Aft Canopy Deck and Sub Panel. There are no prepunched holes in the forward part of the Longeron. So, these holes had to be match-drill #30 using the holes in the Forward Canopy Deck as guides. The Forward Canopy Deck gets wider as you move forward and doesn’t have holes to install clecos to keep it somewhat held in place. So, I wasn’t able to use the blue clamps to this piece. However, I was able to hold the Deck in place with my hand while match-drilling the holes. This too, actually worked out perfectly. Here are the Forward and Aft Canopy Decks with all the required #30 holes.
From this angle, you can see how flush the Deck is with the Side Skin. There is also a little gap near the first several clecos. This is because of aluminum shavings between the two pieces. Once I removed the shavings, the Deck sat flush with no gaps.
Here is a picture of the inside showing the left Forward and Aft Canopy Decks clecoed into position.
The Forward and Aft Canopy Decks for the right side were prepared the exact same way. Here is a picture of the outside.....
.....and the inside.
Lastly, here are the completed left and right Canopy Decks.
Session Total: 4.3 / Upper FWD Fuselage Total: 30.0
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Tuesday, May 31, 2020 (Part 11)
After completing the Upper FWD Fuselage Assembly (“the frame”) in Part 10, it now gets installed/riveted to the airplane. However, prior to setting any rivets, I wanted to check to make sure it fit on the Fuselage correctly and all the parts had the proper clearances. So, I temporarily clecoed the F-01471 Forward Top Skin and “the frame” to the Fuselage.....and looked. Here is a couple views.....
While checking for fit and clearance, I did find two places that needed a little attention. Circled in the pictures below are the bottom ends of the F-01455C-L (first picture) and F-01455C-R (second picture) Seal Angles where they “meet” the Longerons. The Seal Angles on both sides rubbed and made contact with the Longerons.
So, I removed “the Frame” and sanded the bottom of the Angles to make the proper clearance. After re-installing the Upper FWD Fuselage Assembly, there is now adequate clearance between the Seal Angles and each corresponding Longeron. Here is the pilot left side.....
.....and the co-pilot right side.
Now, I can start riveting Upper FWD Fuselage Assembly to the plane. This is the left FWD Fuselage Rib riveted to the F-01401A Firewall Top using six AN426AD3-3 rivets and one AN470AD3-4 to the F-01401D Firewall Angle.
The opposite side of the Firewall where the rivets were installed.
Lastly, for the left side installation....the two circled rivets are the two AN470AD4-4 connecting the Upper FWD Fuselage Assembly to the F-01402-L Side Frame.
The right side was installed the same way and with the same rivets.....to Upper Firewall and Firewall Angle.....
.....opposite side of the Upper Firewall.....
.....and to the Side Frame.
This is the FF-00005 Cowl Pin Retention Bracket attached to the Upper Firewall with two AN426AD3-3 rivets.
Here is the left side of the Upper FWD Fuselage Assembly showing the temporary installation of the C-01440-L Canopy Hinge Bracket.....
.....and the right one.
Finally for this session, I clecoed the the F-14106 Wiring Channel into place between the bottom of the Sub Panel and the F-01451-L & -R Tunnel Sides.
