Fuselage

Today, with all the painting and prep work behind me, I finally feel like I can get on with getting this fuselage back together for good. So I started in and just followed the plans. First, I riveted the F-684 gussets to the vertical firewall angles. These rivets are all easily squeezed. Next, I riveted the F-719 stiffeners and F-719B clips to the firewall angle as well.

It's kind of hard to see in this shot, but the F-684 gussets are riveted on, along with the stiffeners (sticking straight up into the air) and the little clips that hold them on.

Next, the F-7101 Gear Attach stiffeners are riveted to the F-902 bulkheads. I also installed the nutplates on the 902's and riveted them in place, and put the black snap bushings into the holes for the rudder cables. Looking nice!

Now, it's time to dimple the side skins. So I set up my DRDT-2 dimpler on my big workbench and started in. This is a lot of dimpling. I had some helping hands from Daniel and Jamie a couple of times when I was way out near the edge.

When the dimpling is finished, the plans now call for pre-riveting the side doubler plate in place, using just a few key rivets. So I clecoed it in place and squeezed these rivets in.

Here's another shot with all the clecos removed. This baby is ready to go on the fuselage. I still have the left side to do first, however.

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