Fuselage

I don't know what I was thinking when I thought I had almost finished the F-757 Gussets. I had installed them alright, but there are still 3 more holes to drill through the longerons and the gussets. I still have the square holes that need to be cut out, but I knew that. I discovered the 3 extra rivets while studying the drawings to measure and mark for the square cutouts. There are 3 more rivets that need to be drilled through the longeron and through the aft half of the gusset. The drawings can be very confusing at this point if you don't pay attention to the model you are building. If you're building a tip-up, ONLY PAY ATTENTION to the drawing for the tip-up! The slider is different. I finally got out a marker and put a big "X" through the slider drawing because I kept being drawn to it for some reason, and it confused me.

After marking where the square cutout will go, I clecoed the gusset back in place to check my marks. Then I put a piece of masking tape on the longeron, measured and marked for 3 more holes to be drilled as seen above. Repeat for the other side. Then, I cleaned everything up and took the gussets off to cut the square holes as marked.

Today I cut out the square openings in the F-757 gussets. The canopy latches will hold the canopy shut using these cutouts. I spent quite a bit of time getting them as good and accurate as I could. I started by setting up my drill press and drilling four 1/4" holes in the corners of the cutout. Then I filed and deburred the cutouts, and then deburred the whole gusset. They're ready now to prime and paint.

The picture above looks kind of funny. The square cutout really is square. For some reason, the camera makes it look more like a trapezoid, narrower at the bottom end. But it isn't.

Once again, after cleaning everything up and thinking I was finished, I discovered that this still isn't done. The aft 5 rivets (those aft of the F-721B side rail) are all 1/8" rivets. The 3 aft-most rivets are AN470 universal rivets, and the other two are AN426 flush rivets. So I drilled them all out to #30, countersunk the two forward-most holes, deburred everything, and cleaned up everything once again, and clecoed them back in place. I don't have a picture, but it's the same as the one above, with copper clecoes in those 5 holes.

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