26 APR 15: Page 26-5 steps 10-11, pg 26-6 steps 1-6: 8 hours

Riveted the F-1015A-L/R and F-1018-L/R ribs to the rear spar bulkhead assembly.  Easy access on this side:

Tight fit for bucking on the forward side in between the two ribs:

Riveted the remaining ribs to the rear spar bulkhead.  Was able to squeeze the upper and lower two rivets, had to buck the middle three.  Squeezing the rivets:

Tight fit once you get to the middle two ribs:

All ribs riveted:

Riveted the left and right seat rib subassemblies and the F-1017A-L/R ribs to the F-1034 fuselage bulkhead assembly.  Was able to squeeze all the rivets except for two on each of the outboard ribs.  A lot of structure riveted together today!  I’m really going to have to move the wings to hangar before long – gonna run out of room shortly:

21 APR 15: Priming: 2.5 hours

Got the whole batch primed this evening:

22 APR 15: Page 26-5 step 7, pg 26-2 step 5: 1 hour

Riveted the left and right rear seat rib assemblies:

24 APR 15: Page 26-2 steps 6-7: 2 hours

Riveted the nutplates, reinforcing angles, guide brackets, seat belt anchors, and scat tube flanges to the F-1016F-L/R inboard seat ribs:

25 APR 15: Page 26-3 steps 7-10, pg 26-4 steps 5-6, pg 26-5 steps 6-7: 7.5 hours

Dimpled the outboard seat ribs and intercostals.  Riveted nutplates to the intercostals.  Riveted the F-1016D trimmed seat belt attach bars and F-814PP forward seatbelt anchors to the F-1016-L/R outboard seat ribs.  Riveting the seat rib intercostals and spacers to the ribs:

Seems like yesterday that riveting was some sort of mystery.  Now it is second nature.  Forming the shop-head is almost intuitive.  Quick work, but with nice results.  I guess after thousands of rivets, I should be proficient… There is a spacer under the flange – makes it look like a gap:

Inserted the VA-175 heat duct tee into the tube flanges on the inboard seat rib subassemblies.  Clecoed the seat rib subassemblies to the aft center section bulkhead assembly.  Mmmmm….one of these things doesn’t look like the other…

The good part about all the riveting experience is that you get good at drilling them out!

This looks a bit better:

Riveted the F-1066A flap actuator bracket – was able to get all the rivets with the squeezer:

Tight quarters, but they all turned out nicely:

Riveted the seat rib subassemblies to the aft center section bulkhead assembly:

Finished the session by riveting the outboard seat rib subassemblies and the bulkhead side channels to the rear spar bulkhead assembly:

19 APR 15: Debur, Prekote prep: 4.25 hours

Finished deburing parts and began Prekote prep for priming.  A bunch of deburing:

Half of the parts Prekoted:

13 APR 15: Page 26-2 step 5 debur, pg 26-3 steps 1-2: 2.75 hours

More deburring and match-drilling of seat rib assemblies – no pics.

14 APR 15: Page 26-3 steps 3-7: 1 hour

More deburring and match-drilling of seat rib assemblies.  Light on the write up and pictures; need new batteries in the camera flash – no pics.

15 APR 15: Page 26-3 step 7 debur: 1.75 hours

There is a common theme here - more deburring and match-drilling of seat rib assemblies – no pics.

16 APR 15: Deburring, Page 26-4 steps 1-3: 2.3 hours

Cut and match-drilled the flap actuator bracket.  Still no batteries for the camera flash – no pics.

17 APR 15: Page 26-5 steps 1-4: 1.75 hours

Finally picked up batteries for the flash – may have pics in this post!  Fluted the lower flange of the F-1015A-L/R ribs to match the F-1076 center bottom skin.  Match-drilled the rib subassemblies to the rear spar bulkhead.  Final drilled the seat belt attach ribs and lugs:

18 APR 15: Page 26-5 steps 5-6, debur: 6.5 hours

Clecoed and final-drilled the rear seat ribs to the rear spar bulkhead:

The rest of the session was spent on my favorite task – deburring.  Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

12 APR 15: Page 25-7 steps 4-7, pg 25-8 steps 6-7, pg 26-2 steps 1-4: 4.25 hours

Riveted the nutplates onto the F-1005C-L/R bulkhead side channels and F-1063B-L/R idler arm brackets:

 Riveted the F-1005B rear spar attach  bars to the rear spar bulkhead.  Held the workpiece in the table vice, which allowed me to use the vice to level the bucking bar:

Made for fast work of the riveting and gave nice consistent results – just like squeezing:

 Riveted the F-1005E-L/R gussets to the F-005C-L/R bulkhead side channels:

 Bulkhead complete:

 Based on reading Tim Olson’s site, I decided to rivet the two nutplates on the top flange of the F-1034A bulkhead.  This isn’t called for at this point, but it was recommended to do it now when access is easy.  Looking ahead in the plans, I couldn’t see a reason why it could not be done now – hopefully it doesn’t cause any issues in upcoming construction:

I’m glad to make progress, but it all went together too fast – no parts left in this section.  Tons of time to prep all the parts, but hardly any time to put together – all these pieces are open with easy access for shooting rivets, so quick work getting through this section.  All the bulkheads ready to go:

Back to the monotony of drilling, deburring, and primer prep.  All the parts for the next section:

31 MAR / 6 APR 15: Deburring: 6.5 hours

More deburring of fuselage spar parts - no pics.

7-8 APR 15: Prekote: 3.75 hours

 Prepped all the parts w/ Prekote in preparation for priming.  Ready to shoot w/ Akzo:

9 APR 15: Priming: 2.5 hours

Got all the parts primed.  Started with shooting the exterior of the elevators.  I wasn’t priming the external surfaces when I put together the empennage, so little by little I’ve been shooting the empennage parts.  Elevators drying:

I always lose a bit of motivation with each new section.  There is a lot of monotony at first – nothing but deburring.  Glad to have the priming done – means more building is right around the corner.  Spar parts:

More parts:

10 APR 15: Page 25-4 steps 1-5: 2.7 hours

Riveted the mid seat rail support subassemblies together:

Riveted the nutplates onto the upper flanges of the mid seat rail support subassemblies:

11 APR 15: Page 25-4 steps 6-7, pg 25-5 steps 9-11, pg 25-6 steps 1-7: 7 hours

Finally felt back into the swing of things today – made a lot of progress on the spars.  Riveted the  mid seat rail support subassemblies to the forward center section bulkhead assembly.  Front:

Aft:

Riveted the F-1004J center section upright bars to the aft center section bulkhead assembly.  Longest rivets so far – AD 4-16!

Finished up both bulkhead assemblies.  Forward assembly:

Aft assembly: