I didn’t have much time tonight, but I walked through section 26 and verified everything was completed correctly. No issues found.
Section 25
Tonight I started going over the Quickbuild fuse kit, starting with chapter 25.
I spent some time familiarizing myself with the overview then carefully stepped through the instructions checking the work.
Everything looks ok. I found some damage on the outboard edges of the main spar on each side. It looks like tie down strap scratches from shipping, and can probably be buffed out. I emailed Vans support since this is a very important structural part, and I will need to remove some small amount of material to repair.
Nutplates
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.
Primed pushrods and bulkhead
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 test-fit
Today I dimpled, drilled, and test fit the baggage compartment aft wall bulkhead. Dimpling was tricky in places due to the flange shapes, but I managed with my hand squeezer and narrow dimple dies. I step drilled a systems hole, and then started test fitting the bulkhead. I’ll need to flute the flanges, but ran out of time tonight to finish.
Bulkhead
I’ve done about as much as I can on the wings before I have a tech inspection, so I started on the fuselage tonight. There are a few rivets I need to set, but I went out of order and started work deburring the bulkhead that forms the back of the baggage area. I decided to get these parts ready to prime, so I can prime the aileron pushrods and these parts together. Not much to report; I finished deburring two of the three parts.
Top skin rib and doubler
Today I finished preparing the top skin by back riveting the doubler plate and then bucking the rivets for the rib.
Previously, I had found an issue with the doubler where the edges of the dimples appeared to be cracked. I drilled out the rivets and ordered a new part. This time I took extra care to debur the holes, and dimpled before priming. Using some pre-squeezed rivets made it much easier to back rivet the doubler rivets where they are tight up against the doubler flange. I was happy with how these turned out.
I had been puzzling over how to rivet the rib to the top skin. Ideally I would back rivet these, but the flange on the rib makes access impossible without an offset. I don’t like the idea of offset riveting in general, and back riveting that way sounds like trouble. I eventually found a good solution by clamping the skin to the side of a small table (I used a smooth piece of pine between the desk and skin). This kept everything nice and tight, and allowed my to perfectly buck all of these rivets.
Finished riveting rib to top skin
Finished inventory
Tonight I finished the inventory of parts for the wings and fuse, everything was there except a few minor pieces of hardware. I sent an email to Vans and detailed the few missing pieces.
I pulled the plans out of their envelopes and combined with those of the tail kit. Once I’m done with the aft fuse, I’ll be going over every step of the wings and fuse plans to make sure everything is completed as expected.
More inventory
More inventorying tonight, for around an hour
More inventory
Spent about an hour and a half tonight doing inventory. Slow process, but important.