First Bulkhead Done HOBBS 654.0 hrs

Last night I wrapped up the first bulkhead assembly and started on the next one, this is the one that includes the center spar tie-in pieces that you recieve with your wing kit. Essentially, this is where the wing spar will attach to the fuselage. It goes without saying this is an important assembly, be careful with it. It will carry the main wing loads as they are transferred to the fuselage.

Let me warn you, for guys following along behind me. Van's certainly starts to take the training wheels off now...they are not as detailed as before with explicit instuctions. It is left to the builder to read ahead and get an overall picture of the full assembly before proceeding. I will say, if its something shouldn't be done until later, they do seem to convey that message clearly. Otherwise, if you are waiting for them clearly say, "now rivet this assembly together," you'll be disappointed. :) Here are some pics.

For some reason, the plans tell you to 'test fit' the control stick sub-assembly as its easier to get to it now? But...you cant remove it as a complete sub-assembly as they seem to describe because of the location of the attach bolts. I did as they said however, as you can see, and it was cool to see my sticks in place but I'm just not sure this was a useful excercise? Maybe it will make more sense later? But...its time to move on and I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

There are a lot of brackets to fabricate on these first two bulkheads. My advice is get the appropriate tools to make your life easier, you will do a lot of cutting of aluminum angle. My cutoff saw is working fine for most of this task, although I still have the get the hacksaw out for a few of these beause the saw has limitations.

Use the unibit to open these holes up for grommets for wire routing.

Here is my solution for a 'spacer' between the fore and aft spars. Van's says to use hardwood that is 1-7/16" thick (going from memory?). Ok, where do you find wood exactly that thickness?? So, I had some scrap conduit laying around from Home Depot and fashioned some 'spacers' at that specified thickness...should work fine.

Ignore the orientation of my grommets in this pic, I switched these around 180 degs later like the plans show. That gold anodize finish looks cool huh? It costs enough, so gold seems like a fitting color! :)