So, last night I was anxious to get back out in the shop and spend some time with my 'mistress'. I am at a point in the project where I am on the verge of some exciting developments. Namely, starting to rivet the fuselage together. But, alas, I keep finding little things that I inadvertently missed or just postponed until I could get better access...all items that need to be attended to before I can start riveting.
Most of them are no big deal. But there was one that caused me some anguish. I forgot to dimple my match drilled holes in the aft fuselage assembly when I had it apart the first time!! dang! I briefly thought about machine-countersinking them...yeah I know, the lazy way out. But...this is part of my transformation as a builder and a person. If I were building a deck on the patio, I probably would take the short cut or at least I would've in the past...but this being an airplane that my life depends on...gotta back up and do it right even if it kinda sucks. This area--where the aft fuse connects to the mid fuse--is an important part of the structure and I felt it needed to be done properly. So...back apart it came, I also had to drill out a couple rivets in the baggage bulkhead to accomplish this.
There are days in the shop where you are working hard, grunting it out, and really not having much fun because it feels like you are just spinning your wheels and not seeing any progress. Last night was one of those nights. You just gotta grind through them...they are inevitable and are obstacles to a flying airplane that must be overcome. I spent a fair amount of the evening dinking with this, got through it...the aft fuse is now dimpled properly and re-clecoed back together. Next step...riveting the bottom. I will now flip the 'canoe' over upside down like Van's suggests to do the bottom rivets.
Match drilling the plastic blocks that hold the rudder pedals. I couldn't access these with the side skins on, so I did it at this stage (side skins removed)...much easier. I have long legs for a 5'9" guy so they will probably be in the far forward position for me...but I did add some extra holes for adjustment just in case...not sure why really, but I did.
I wanted to do something with my firewall...leaving it bare metal is probably the right thing to do because just about any paint you put on it will cook off during a hot engine fire. As a compromise...I did paint it, but I used this flame proof paint I bought from Aircraft Spruce. Supposed to be effective up to 1200 degs F. An engine fire can get much hotter than that, but alum will start melting around there so I will have much bigger problems than paint fumes if I have an engine fire that is that far out of control and I'm still in the air. The rivets and cross members will be melting since they are alum.
Scuff up the surfaces and clean them with acetone...
Not sure how I like this stuff...it doesn't seem very durable, especially compared to my Akzo Nobel primer. It's mostly cosmetic though, it shouldn't have any wear to speak of so hopefully it wont matter how durable it is. Some guys also put a thermal shield/blanket over this on the cockpit side.
Here are a couple pics of the row of rivets that I forgot to dimple...what a pain! (btw, that's overspray you see on the side skin...the product of trying to paint in a small area and being sloppy about it...doh! not to worry it will be covered/removed by the painter later.)
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