Nutplates

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I installed the nut plates onto the bulkhead parts that make up the aft wall of the baggage compartment. It was trivial, but a little tight around the flanges. I managed ok with my hand squeezer in the vice.

With the hand squeezer in the bench vice, I was able to squeeze all the rivets for these nutplates
Nutplates installed

Primed pushrods and bulkhead

Posted on by Neal

I’ve been busy with work and family stuff, and have had several weeks without any airplane time. Today was warm and dry, so I took the chance to prime a few parts. I made a custom stand for the pushrods since they are cylindrical and had openings at each end that I didn’t want to prime (they are already primed). Everything came out looking ok.

Bulkhead and pushrods cleaned and etched
The threads are plugged with silicone plugs I bought when powder coating the pitot mast. Nails through a block of 2×4 at each end allow the rods to stay up off the bench, and they can rotate freely.
Painted parts