Fuselage

Over the last week or so, with a few minutes here and a few minutes there, I managed to finish deburring the edges of the bottom center section skin. So today I set up the DRDT-2 dimpling tool and started dimpling. It took all the reach this tool is capable of to get the center of the skin dimpled, but it did a beautiful job. Then I peeled off the vinyl from the inside surface of the skin, took it outside with my cleaning/etching solution, and went to work to scuff, etch, and clean the skin in preparation for priming. While it was drying in the shop, I went to work deburring and dimpling all the seat ribs, and the baggage ribs. I now have this whole pile of stuff ready for priming.

Jamie came out and helped me hold the skin when I was dimpling out near the edges. Nobody to take pictures of the two of us.

But the table I built for the tool held the work just fine for the middle area. Here I am at maximum reach, dimpling the holes in the middle of the skin.

After peeling the vinyl off, I took it outside with my scotchbrite pads and cleaning/etching solution to prepare it for priming. It's now ready! While it dries in the corner of the shop here, I went to work on all the seat and baggage area ribs.

Hours later, here's the pile of ribs and brackets. Doesn't look like much, but a lot of work has gone into these parts. They're now ready for scuffing, etching, cleaning and priming.

Also tonight, I dimpled the bottom holes in the F-705 bulkhead assembly for the skin rivets. I touched them up with the countersink tool, just like I did on the rear spar of the wings. I have to do some research to figure out how to do the same for the F-704 bulkhead. I'm not sure if I should try to dimple the flanges of the F-704 spars, or countersink them, or what. The plans aren't real clear here. It just says "prepare the parts for riveting". I need to make sure I do it the right way before I proceed.

<< Previous | Home | Next >>