Fuselage

December 17, 2005

Began fitting forward auxilliary longerons. Fabricated angle clips that will connect fuselage stiffeners to firewall assembly. There are a mess of pieces and parts to be fabricated and fit in the forward fuselage area.

December 18, 2005

Fit and match drilled the forward stiffeners to the side skins. The angle clips that I fabricated above were a bear to match drill to the stiffeners and firewall angle. Based on a tip from Mike Schipper's website, I made a new set of clips but did not pre drill them. Instead, I match drilled them in place, that is, clamped them in their location and drill the holes through both parts. Worked out much better.

December 26, 2005

Cut and fit the left and right lower longerons to the forward section. Match drilled to the lower firewall brackets. The four holes get bolted through on final assembly.

December 27, 2005

Cut, fit and match drilled the right and left corner gussets to the firewall and stiffeners (L). Installed and match drilled left and right forward bulkheads (R).

A shot of the framing of the forward fuselage. Remember, the fuselage assembly sits on the sawhorses with the bottom facing up. On the right, I have begun fabrication of the reinforcement web. This section will support the forward support bracket of the wing so this area is beefed up

December 28, 2005

Completed fabricating and match drilling of the reinforcement angles that support the forward end of the wing. I pulled out all of the rudder/brake pedal assembly parts to begin fitting to the forward fuselage.

December 29, 2005

Marked and drilled the forward stiffeners for the pedal assembly. I made 3 adjustment points at 1/2" intervals. This will allow the pedal assembly to be moved closer to the seat. I'll will leave them in the forward most holes to start.

Fabricated and drilled the center pedal brace and drilled the matching adustment holes. The left picture shows the whole assembly in place. The right pic is a closeup of the right side assembly with the mounting set to the aft most position. This assembly will now be removed and re-installed later on.