Today I worked on fitting the JDAir latch mechanism into the slot, including installing the “dummy” rivets which only fill the existing holes and don’t clamp anything together. One of these rivets interferes with the latch, so a countersink is needed on the latch mechanism to work around it. With the countersinking done, I was able to fit the bottom bracket, and match drill the new rivet holes into the fuselage. Once I cleaned up the holes, I dimpled using a pop rivet dimple die. They never dimple very well, but there’s not much I can do.
Meanwhile, Dad worked on sanding and fitting the air ramps to the top cowl. These are basically ready to be epoxied into position now.
We also shaped the air inlet baffle seal clamps. Once these are bent to shape, they are wrapped in packing tape, and filler is applied to the inside edge of the cowling air inlet. The clamps are then used to form the correct shape. We did that, and will let it set overnight.
