Fuselage, Rollover Structure (Part 4)

In this session, we worked on the AFT Roll Bar Assembly.  Shown below is the C-01432 Bushing Doubler clecoed to the left side of the AFT assembly (looking forward)…..

…..the Doubler riveted into place and the BUSHFBZ.502X.377X.375 Bushing installed…..

…..and the C-01433 Bushing Cover riveted into place.

The other side of the Assembly is the same.  Here is the right side of the AFT assembly (again, looking forward).  Here is the Bushing Doubler clecoed into place…..

…..the Doubler riveted into place and the bushing installed…..

…..and the Bushing Cover riveted into place.

Fuselage, Aileron & Elevator Systems (Part 2)

Fuselage, Rollover Structure (Part 3)

After all those #40 holes were made to be #30 holes, the FWD and AFT Roll Bar Assemblies were separated to begin some riveting.  Pictured below is the FWD assembly.  As I mentioned in Part 2, the Inboard and Outboard Roll Bar Straps can now easily be seen in the next two pictures…..now that the two halves have been separated.

Here is a close up of the center section of the FWD assembly.

This shows the opposite side of the center section with several 426 rivets were installed.

This is the left (pilot) side…..

…..and the right (copilot) side.  Again, 426 rivets are used in this location because the canopy will close onto this assembly.

Now, like I mentioned in Part 2…..here are the 426 rivets I had to use on the inboard (lower) side of the assembly.  Again, these holes were mistakenly countersunk…..and per the plans, 470 rivets should have been used in the location.  Despite the error, it turned out pretty nicely.  I’ll take it and build on.

Here is a view of the completed FWD Roll Bar Assembly after riveting the Inboard and Outboard Roll Bar Straps.

Fuselage, Rollover Structure (Part 2)

I forgot to take pictures of the initial steps in this section, such as the separation of parts, deburring, countersinking, etc.  Additionally, all of the pictures in this section are after the parts were treated with alumiprep, alodine and Akzo primer.

This is the “front 1/2” of the roll bar structure.  Specifically, in the first picture, is the F-01431A-FL (Front Left) and F-01431A-FR (Front Right).  These two pieces are connected together using a F-1231E Roll Bar Splice Plate.  The three pieces were riveted together using 24 AN470AD4-5 rivets.  This is now known as the “FWD Roll Bar Assembly”.

(Note:  The F-10431A-AL (Aft Left), F-01431A-AR (Aft Right) and second F-1231E Roll Bar Splice Plate were assembled in the same manner using 20 AN470AD4-5 rivets…..the remaining four rivet locations will be used later.  This is now know as the “AFT Roll Bar Assembly”.)

Here is the shop head side of the rivets…..

…..and the manufactured side of the rivets.

*****Note:  In the three pictures above, you will notice I also countersunk the inboard (lower) holes on the FWD Roll Bar Assembly.  I did this in ERROR!  The plans only call for the outboard (upper) holes to be countersunk (because the canopy and baggage area windows will rest on top of the roll over assembly).  So, instead of 470 rivets in the lower holes, I will have to use 426 rivets.  Not a big deal and the only thing I lost…..the time countersinking the holes.  More on this error in the next post.*****

The next step was to cleco the F-01431B Outboard Roll Bar Strap to the FWD Roll Bar Assembly and the F-01431C Inboard Roll Bar Strap the AFT Roll Bar Assembly.  (You will be able to see all these parts with a little more clarity when I rivet them together in the next post).

Once clecoed together, all the #40 holes (silver clecos) had to be final-drilled to #30 holes (bronze clecos).  In the picture below, half of the final-drilling is complete…..it’s ALOT of holes!!!!

Additionally, the F-01431D Window Shims were clecoed to the AFT Roll Bar Frame Assembly and Outboard Roll Bar Strap.  In the picture below, you can see the window shims on the bottom side and in the upper center of the assembly.  (They are actually not primed yet).

Just another view of everything clecoed together.

Fuselage, Roll Over Structure (Part 1)

Fuselage, Aileron & Elevator Systems (Part 1)