Fuselage

SB 12-09-26

20-05

I was still working on the fuselage when SB 1-13 was released. This is essentially a stiffening kit to better distribute landing gear forces.

So I drilled out the rivets holding the parts 1204T L and R to the U channel. Using an awl as a "roller" I was able to bend the tabs of the 1204U L and R as directed without deforming the rivet holes. I then riveted the 1204U and 1204T parts to the U Channel using the existing holes and the Cherry Max rivets. Unfortunately the close rivet tool that I had would not pull the Cherry rivets. I purchased a Marscon HP2 hand rivet puller which had no problem pulling the Cherry Max rivets. I was able to maneuver the HP2 to access all 8 rivets with perpendicular pressure. My most successful technique was to make multiple gentle mini pulls of about 1/2 cm until the tool bottomed out. The mandrel would break cleanly on the next pass. Trying to pull the rivet in one smooth pull was not as successful. You should not bend the stems or remove the washer on the Cherry rivets before pulling the rivets. The stem should break off flush with the rivet head. And yes, I now know how to remove poorly set Cherry rivets!

Other stiffener kits include the "12 firewall stiffener kit" (recommended), the "ADHARS stiffener" (recommended) and the oil tank stiffening brace (required).

Hint: Label the sub kits and use the inventory sheet to locate parts! If you store a sub-kit offsite (or even if you just move it out of sight) write yourself a note! Don't ask. Let us just say that I could not find the longerons. Some dummy put them high up on the ceiling with the flaperons.

20-02 Step1

Problem with Countersinking: After finding the parts for Section 20 and separating the hardware into plastic bins, I immediately encountered challenge #1. While countersinking the forward face of the center assembly for an AN426 AD3 rivet, I noted that the existing rivet shop heads interfered with the guard of my counter sinking tool. The solution was to place a "5/16" inch washer (OD .85 inch) between the center section face and the guard of the counter sinking tool. The hole in the washer was large enough to allow the cutting head to pass through and the outer edge of the washer still contacted the counter sink stop, but not the existing rivet heads. I countersunk with the nut plate in place as a stabilizer for pin of the cutting head.

Aluminum Bar: It appears that the large aluminum bar in the center section has been anodized, so I elected not to prime this bar.

3D Visualization: I had difficult "seeing" the drawings in 3D. One trick is to cover parts of the drawings until they appear "correctly."

Problem with CCR-264SS-3-2 Rivets: The mandrels on these rivets break off too early leaving "loose" nut plates. We elected to use a hand squeezer to pull these rivets. Solutions include pre-tensioning the nut plate, using an AN426-3 solid rivet or gently back riveting after pulling the rivet. We used a vise grip to hold the loose rivets and drilled them out with a #40 drill.

*Since I switched to the Marscon HP2 hand riveter, I have had no further problem with these rivets.

20-03 Step 2

Drilling the Sub Assembly

I had difficulty match drilling #30 the "72" holes in the sub assembly. We started as instructed with the sub assembly on the floor skin and match drilled the central holes using a portable vertical drilling attachment. This worked, but there was too much play in the system resulting in enlarged openings in the face plate. Once the face plate was well positioned, I removed the sub assembly from the floor skin and used a drill press to drill out the remaining holes. This resulted in a much more precise drill hole. The best results were obtained by clamping the sub assembly directly to the drill press support plate, protecting the sub assembly with a flat block of wood (method not pictured).

Dry Fitting the Baggage Floor

Here is a shot of the baggage floor after dry fitting the parts. IMHO, this step really increases the ability to visualize the build and helps insure that the proper holes are dimpled in the baggage floor.

21-02 Step 1

The instructions call for dimpling only the R baggage floor #19 holes X 5. Looking ahead, we will be riveting the K1100-08 nut plate which takes a 8-32 countersunk screw. The key here is that this is a #8 screw with 32 threads, NOT an 8/32 screw. The proper drill hole for the #8 dimple die is a #19 drill hole. And finally, the #8 dimple works with the 8-32 screw. So that is what I plan to use to dimple the #19 holes X 5.

Baggage Floor Completed 8/29/2012

Rear Bearing Assemblies with flush rivets against rib.

Attaching the Seat Floors

21-08 Step 5

I tried to put the manufactured head on the ribs when possible. Here I flipped the assembly upside down for access to the rib flanges. This is the view of the inverted assembly from the baggage floor aft view.

21-10 Step 2

I had trouble aligning the three parts of the control stop to fit the machine countersink for the indicated #30 rivets around the bearing. One solution is to temporarily REMOVE the center plate and temporarily oppose the F1233B L and R plates together uses clecoes and then countersinking of the #30 outboard faces as instructed. This uses the opposing plate as a backing plate to keep the countersink from wobbling.

The trapped bearing makes it difficult to place the four solid rivets. I ended up using a #30 reamer on all #30 holes in all three plates. DO NOT try to ream with the three pieces attached together, but rather ream them separately. I then placed the solid rivets, and only then did I clecoed the three plates together. Test the remaining #30 holes to see if they will accept the LP4-4 rivet before final assembly.

I was not able to get the shop head of the double flush rivets absolutely flush using a hand squeezer, but this does not appear to be a problem given the ample clearance using two washers on each side of the AN3 bolt that will pass through the bearing.

21-13

Here is a picture of step 21-13. Note the U Channel end view after installation of the new parts (SB 1-13) F-1204 U using Cherry rivets as instructed.

21-14 Step 1

Note that there is NO washer on the AN3 bolt head. The 10A bolt is just long enough to work without a washer on the bolt head. I did not use any light (L) washers. If you messed up and put a washer on the bolt head, no worries. Just take another AN3 bolt of equal or longer length and use it to push out the AN3-10A bolt, thus securing the washers. Then remove the extra washer from the AN3-10A bolt and reverse the process. The placement of the washers is easier if you constructor a push tool out of a tongue depressor. You can use tape to secure BOTH washers at once.

Washer Push Tool

21-16 Step 1

Be sure to use a rivet squeezer with a small reach when dimpling and riveting the access holes. If the rivet squeezer strikes the sheet metal the rivet may set at an angle and will not be set flush.

Fuselage upside down for dry fitting of bottom skin.

Here is the fuselage after installing the bottom skin, corner skins and the step floors. I dry fitted the exterior steps and elected to install them at a later date after painting.

21-20 Step 1

Using advice from the RV12 forum, I used Boelube on the system block studs to reduce the friction and heat generated by the nut. It was a two man job made easier by a stubby Phillips screwdriver, ratchet and wrench. The nuts were set to contact plus 1/4 turn.

22-02 Step 2

I used a #40 reamer as needed on the nut-plate rivet holes that needed to be machine counter-sunk. I then used the appropriate nut-plate and a #40 single cleco to hold the nut-plate against the sheet metal when machine counter-sinking the #40 rivet heads. The nut-plate acts as an adequate backing plate to keep the counter-sink tip from wobbling excessively. Don't forget to change to the #30 countersink bit when you countersink for the CS4-4 rivet. You may need to machine countersink 6 holes #40 in the firewall side of the cooler stiffener.

22-02 Step 3

You do not need to dimple the nut-plates on the ribs since the ribs are machine countersunk, not dimpled. There are no nut-plates in the firewall to rivet at this point (See Marty Santic).

22-02 Step 4

You may want to round the aft corners of the finished and painted W1204 engine mounts before riveting it to the support ribs.

22-02 Step 13

Verify that the pre-punched opening in the bottom firewall for the fuel return line clamp is large enough to pass the AN525-10R7 Screw called out in Section 28-06. Mine was not correctly sized from the factory.

22-02 Step 14

When drilling the 9/16 inch opening in the bottom firewall, the flange may deflect the uni-bit drill horizontally. You can can look at the gascolator included in the fuselage kit to see if there is an adequate fit. A horizontally deviation can be corrected using a file or a drum disc creating a slightly oval opening. A vertical deviation may be problematic.

Although the diagram shows the engine mounts are to be secured to the lower firewall by 4 CS4-4 rivets, I cannot find where we are instructed to install the rivets. I decided to rivet the engine mount before installing the upper firewall.

22-03 Step 4

Figure 2 is misleading as it is missing a rivet hole in the upper flange of the bottom firewall. The two rivet holes that are marked "Do Not Rivet" are _inline_ with the rivet holes used to secure the oil cooler brackets. I laid down two thin beads of sealant on the upper edge of the firewall flange and that was enough to seal the opening with sealant becoming visible at the edges of the flange after riveting. It was not clear if I was to rivet the single remaining forward hole in each bracket at this time.

22-03 Step 6

According to VAN's tech support, the F1201A, B, and C parts are stainless steel and therefor no need for priming. Early shipments of the fuselage kit came with a six foot section of AA6-063 3/4X3/4 angle instead of the necessary six inch section!

22-03 Step 9

I was able to use a twelve inch #30 drill and a gloved left hand to match drill the holes as instructed. The drill bit was flexible enough that I was able to lightly bend and hold the drill at mid length with my gloved hand such that the drill bit was perpendicular to the sheet metal.

22-04 Step 1

My kit came with a Flo-Scan. So it is secured with two #10 screws (head type to be determined). You can dry fit the flow scan to the VA-188. I needed to final drill two screw holes in the VA188 #12 to accommodate the #10 screws. Now an AN3 bolt will pass through a #12 hole, a #10 screw will not. Only the threads of a #10 screw will pass through a #12 drill hole. If you dry fit the flow scan with a 10R18 screw you will see that only the threads of the screw protrude through the flow scan body. So I final drilled #12 X 2, not 7/32. My kit shipped with AN525 10R18 screw heads, not the AN 509 10R18 called out by the plans on Section 28-05, so I ordered new screws.

Here is the forward section being attached to the main fuselage body. Note the gap between the tables for inverted riveting :).

22-05 Step 1

I riveted the vertical sections first. I had to temporarily push out some of the plastic inserts that were blocking the placement of some of the skin rivets. The final outboard rivets (one on each side) were placed by inserting the rivet and THEN clamping the skin edges together.

28-01 FUEL LINES

As advised by other builders, I am going to skip to the fuel system while I have easier access. I used Loctite 567 for the threads when instructed to use pipe thread sealant. DO NOT USE TEFLON TAPE. These connections appear to be NPT or tapered fittings and depend on the sealant for a final seal. I torqued them to 1/4 to 1/2 past contact or up to 75 inch/pounds on a straight 3/8 inch NPT connection. I used WD-40 on the head of the AVIATION flare tool. I used Marvel Oil on the contact face of the 3/8 inch flared tubing. According to VAN's, these flared connections should be contact plus one flat. I used up the included 8 feet of tubing building the first 2 foot section of the fuel system! Mostly I needed to learn where the tube bend would end up.

28-03 Step 2

I did the first bend as instructed. In retrospect, do not cut the tubing until after you have succeeded with the first bend. Also, I think it would be easier to do the first bend before flaring the tubing. Then you could add the hardware and then cut and flare the end. This way you would have precise control over the length of tubing beyond the first bend rather than learning by trial and error. I did not prime the fuel tubing which is basically aluminum that is inherently resistant to through and through oxidation.

28-04 Fuel Pump -- Fuel Valve Line

This is a very challenging step. I ended up counter-sinking the system mounting blocks so that they sat almost flat on the floor as suggested by others. I am glad that I left the fuel pump loose. After doing the initial "S" bend in the pump-valve fuel line, I sprayed WD-40 on the tubing and passed the tubing to the fuel valve. I marked the areas that needed to be bent and bent the tubing by hand as best I could. I then removed the entire tubing and cut the end as marked. I did some extra bending using a tube bender. I was able to reinsert the tubing and check the fit. I then pulled the tubing back until I could pass the tubing through a lightening hole above the normal exit hole just before the fuel valve. I was able to place the hardware and then flare the tubing using the standard flaring tube. I cleared the line with compressed air. I then pulled the line back and passed it through the proper opening just before the fuel valve. With the pump loose, I was able to hand bend the tubing so that the flares sat on the respective valve and fuel pump fittings and system blocks without pressure.

28-05 Step 3 Gascolator

This is where you drain fuel and look for water so this should be the lowest point in the fuel system at rest. You can use a dremel to fit the opening for the AN819-6D. I was blessed in a good fit without using the dremel. Consider using a AN960-10 washer rather than a AN960-10L washer on the inboard AN3-7A bolt. My kit shipped with a slightly longer bolt than called out in the plans and I replaced it with the correct bolt as called out in the plans.

28-06 Step 1

You can use the AN960-716 washer as indicated in Rev. 0 or two NAS washers as indicated in Rev. 3. The AN960-716 washer is no longer readily available.

28-06 Step 4

Consider connecting the 3/8 and 1/4 inch fuel lines with the pads before the final cutting and fitting of the return line. It was not obvious to me that the fuel tank ends of the two lines are ALMOST forward and aft in alignment. In one of the overhead views, you can see the faint outlines of the two fuel tank fittings such that the return line is 1 5/8 inches aft and staggered ever so slightly to the left of the send fuel line. Make sure that the final fuel assembly does not rest on the lightening hole in the most inboard gas tank floor rib. I was able to get the padded fuel assembly to clear the rib by final hand bending, and then repetitively cutting, flaring and positioning the return line until there was no contact and both flared ends fell naturally on their fittings. Consider a bit of strategic extra "de-burring" of the lightening hole for a safety margin.

28-06 Step 10

I was not happy with the flap handle assembly in the forward position striking the fuel return line even after being captured in the system blocks. I use the bending tool to put a definite and gentle four bend downward detour between the flap handle in the forward forward position and the bottom skin of the airplane, leaving a safety margin on both sides of the fuel return line.

Section 23 Fabricating the LONGERONS

I started by ordering two spare pieces of angle for the longerons from VANS. They arrived in a plastic tube and shipping was about $20, which I think is a very reasonable cost and good insurance against a fabrication error.

I marked the first longeron and labeled the sections. The key point was to understand is that the opening of the end of the longeron is a gradual taper from 0 degrees starting at 12 11/16 inches in, to 5.4 degrees at the end of the longeron. Once you open the longeron, you will twist it so that one side lays flat and the other end is angled 5.4 degrees to match the curvature of the side skin! So if you divide 12 11/16 inches by 5.4 degrees you get 2.35 inches per degree. So I marked the end of the longeron every 2.35 inches back from 12 11/16 inches.

Using an Arbor Press

I used a one ton manual arbor press to start the process of opening the end of the longeron. I sandwiched the end of the longeron between a 1 1/2 inch piece of scrap angle and a 3/4 inch inner diameter pipe (outer diameter one inch). I had to use heavy pressure on the arm of the arbor press and use a firm hit on the top of the arbor press with a rubber mallet to start the process. I had no success opening the longeron beyond about 3 degrees with the arbor press. So I finished the process of opening the angle of the longeron using a vise.

Success With a Vise

I did use the vise method with success to further open the end of the longeron. I again sandwiched the longeron between a 1 1/2 inch piece of scrap angle and 3/4 inch inner diameter pipe. I put duck tape over the threads of the pipe, but not the working center of the pipe. The combination of an arbor press to start the process and a vise to finish the process was satisfactory.

I used an SAE cresent wrench to twist the appropriate side of the longeron flat since that is the end goal. I used a small square digital angle meter as a guide, checking at one inch intervals as I twisted at various points on the end of the longeron until the proper side of the longeron was flat.

Bending the Longeron

I bent the longeron using a vise, pretension and a rubber mallet. I used both an analogue compass and a digital angle gauge to fabricate the longerons. I also recommend using a pair of heavy gloves. I used a set of welding gloves to grasp the longeron when hammering.

I recommend that you measure, mark and label the various sections of the longeron first, including directionality of the bends and curves. THEN I recommend making the inboard 4 degree bend BEFORE cutting the longeron to length. You will appreciate the extra length for leverage when pretensioning the longeron and for manually removing the inevitable downward vertical deviation that results from the bend. (You can think of the downward deviation as you bend the longeron as similar to what you see when folding a curved edge on a rib, which is corrected in sheet metal fabrication by fluting.)

Here is the old school and new school tools for measuring angles.

Drilling the Longeron

I used some small pieces of scrap wood as a backing plate when drilling the longeron. Here is the longeron after removing the 025 skin spacer.

Painting the Exposed Interior Parts

I had my local Sherwin Williams dealer tint a gallon to Direct To Metal paint to match the VANS pedal color and had them fill six rattle cans with the paint. I ended up needing to order more rattle cans. The dtm paint does seem to attach well to prepped aluminum and dries a lot slower than primer.

Here is the mid fuselage brace in place.

23-04 Step 4

Pay careful attention to the rivets called out in Figure 3 for attaching the F-1203G to the F-1203A bulkhead. The plans call for eight LP4-5 rivets as indicated. I used LP4-3s for the lower two locations.

Before doing any riveting of the longerons, I fitted the side skins and adjusted the longerons to fit the openings in the side skins as shown below.

Section 54 Firewall Stiffener Modification

Although the Firewall Stiffener is a retrofit, it is obviously easier to do this step while preparing the sides skins. The new kits INCLUDE the sidewall stiffeners which may decrease the cracking seen in some planes at the inside 90 angle of the side skin. Be sure to use a fresh drill and Boelube when drilling stainless steel.

I was able to rotate the gascolator to install the stiffener. I used new AN bolts to re-attach the gascolator.

Here is the cockpit view of the modified side wall stiffener and new side wall stiffener.

Outside view of the side wall stiffeners. Six holes remain to be drilled in this picture.

23-06 Step 6

Three of the #40 rivet holes could not be dimpled with my 3 inch yoke. I used a "pop rivet" dimpler with success.

It seems to be a consensus that you need to dimple the upper forward corner of the side skins, near the forward end of the longeron, for a single #8 screw. This will become more evident when it is time to install the upper firewall.

23-07

I stopped at this point and installed the pedals to allow access to the pedal installation bolts and brake fittings.

25-03 Step 1

I delayed connecting the tailcone until last. Verify that the pitot line is not pinched between the fuselage and tail cone left shear fitting or the line will interfere with the attachment of the tail cone.

25-04 Step 2

The instructions say to overlap the tail cone skins with the corner skin. This does not look right unless you underlap the forward inferior corner of the 1279 tail cone skin as depicted below. This follows the general guidelines of upper skins overlapping lower skins and forward skins overlapping aft skins.

27-03 Step 1 and 2

The trick here is to use a very slow drill speed for the larger drill bits. I used a high speed air drill to match drill the two #30 holes using a cleco and clamp to secure the assembly. Leaving one cleco in, I then drilled out the remaining side with a very slow speed on an electric drill #12 and then electric drill 1/4 inch. I then disassembled the pedal and torque tube. I used a step drill to drill out the remaining side #30 to 1/4 inch. I then used a reamer on each part separately through and through. This resulting in a nice snug final assembly for the 1/4 bolt.

27-03 Step 7

Do not torque the control bolt AN3-7 holding the brake master cylinder to the torque tube. If you torque down this bolt the toe brakes will bind. Instead, tighten the control bolt to finger tight and secure the bolt in position using the cotter pin.

27-03 Step 9

Take note that the plans call out an AN960-10 washer BETWEEN the two halves of the rudder pedal blocks. 

If you look closely at the picture above, you will see that I have removed the side skin to access the bolts securing the rudder assembly to the firewall shelf. I plan to attach the brake lines on the left side of the fuselage and center line at this point before riveting on the left skins. In this photo, only the center bolts have been torqued.

27-04 Step 1

I would recommend spending some time looking at the hardware for the brake lines until you are convinced that the nuts and sleeves really only fit properly on one side of the fittings and then insure that the nuts and sleeves are lightly attached to the correct side of the fittings. As instructed, check that the correct nuts are attached to the correct fittings as the sleeves are permanently attached to the nuts used on the 45 degree fittings. If I am reading the aircraft structural manual correctly, the tapered fittings are to be torqued at 40-65 inch pounds. I plan to used Loctite 567 on the tapered threads.

27-04 Step 5

The fittings on the master cylinders are NOT symmetrical. The plans call out three 90 degree fittings on the masters cylinders on the left side of the plane. This is not so evident using updated plans printed on 81/2 X 11 paper.

The actual brake fitting is a metal to metal bead seal. Thanks to Mike S. for posting this diagram:

It is important that _only_ about 1/8 inch of tubing sticks out or the tubing will impede the seating of the bead when threading by hand. I resorted to using an arbor press and a large crescent wrench to move the bead closer to the end of the tubing. Your experience may vary. If you use the arbor press, clear any plastic shavings that may interfere with a good fit. Vans now recommends drilling out the tubing if needed.

The compression fittings should be tightened to hand contact and then one full turn per Section 5 of the instructions.

My Absence Jan-March 2-14

Things slowed to a crawl recently when I broke my wrist.

Vents

I built the two vents. Here is a view from the interior. Note that the side wall stiffener made it more difficult to tighten the screw and bolt.

Rollbar

I went ahead and painted the roll bar grey despite the fact that it will be visible through the canopy. I decided to drill and install the mounting plates now as I found the fit to be very tight.

You may wish to machine counter sink the top face of the roll bar brace where it overlaps the roll bar before installing the roll bar. Well, unless you have very long arms.

Seat Backs

There does not seem to be a call to safety wire the two lower hinge pins to the seat back. Perhaps later in the plans?

Upper Firewall Hinge and Nut-plates

Rev. 1 calls for a 26 inch Hinge and Rev. 2 calls for a 25.5 inch hinge. If you cut the hinge to 25.5 inches it looks like the picture with an eye on each end. To install the 25.5 inch hinge, center the hinge over the holes in the upper firewall doubler. When you rivet the upper firewall doubler to the upper firewall, you may want to use a "vise grip" locking C clamp and a rivet gauge to press the tabs in the upper fire wall up against the doubler. I also used a sacrificial #8 screw to help cinch up the nut plates while riveting.

25.5 inch hinge (right) installed and centered on the upper firewall doubler. Tab and nut plate tight up against the upper firewall doubler.

29-02 Step 6

So there are six nutplates on the forward face and four nutplates on the aft face of the upper firewall. The aft nutplates are only visible in the detail view in the bottom right hand side of the page. Again, I had to use my trusty "pop rivet" dimpler to dimple the 8 places for the flush rivets near the lower flange shown in the detail simply due to the height of the flange.

29-02 Step 7

The diagram shows 10 places to dimple the lower flange and fails to show two sites that need to be dimpled in the lower flange as you can confirm by looking at the corresponding faces of the firewall shelf. I again had to use the nail dimpler for two of the openings.

29-03 Step 6

The firewall sealant is drop shipped, expensive and does not come with a nozzle. It goes on with a spatula and dries like rubber. It covers gaps quite nicely. I needed to apply the firewall sealant to both sides of the firewall to get a "light tight" seal.

I used tank sealant on the aft side of the firewall where the flanges made applying firewall sealant on the forward firewall impractical. The tank sealant is very difficult to squeeze in any large quantities. The combination of firewall and tank sealant created a full perimeter around the firewall.

29-04 Step 4

Consider using a double wing nut-plate jig 1/4 inch available from Brown Tool when manufacturing the canopy attach strut angle. Also drill #40 not 3/32. I machine countersunk the outboard face of the #40 rivets free hand as the guard on my tool would not fit within the angle. This piece should be primed.

29-04 Step 5

I recommend sacrificing a K1100-08 nut plate and #8 screw here as a backing plate when machine countersinking the slightly angled flanges. You will need to dimple #8 the screw holes and then secure the nut plate with a #8 screw and one #40 cleco before machine countersinking the rivet attach holes #40. Apply the clecoe from the flush side after countersinking. The two K1000-06 nutplates on the right angle flange are more problematic. I used the flange from a mangled rib as a backing plate for machine countersinking the K1000-06 #40 rivet holes on the right angle flange. Finally, you need to dimple the two holes for the AN3-4.5 rivets in the ribs and machine countersink the corresponding AN3 holes in the backing plates.

29-04 Step 13

I decided to wait to seal the rivet heads until this step. I used blue painting masking tape and a 3/8 inch crafting hole punch from EK tools to mask off the pop rivet and flush rivet heads. I then sealed the mandrel AND the entire rivet head with fuel tank sealant. The masking tape is easily removed while the sealant is still wet.

Tip: I recommend buying the sealant gun from VAN's designed to work with the fuel tank sealant cartridge for a much easier application process.

Inexpensive crafting hole punch 3/8 inch.

Battery holder with mandatory update, second rib, to prevent cracking. Note the optional diagonal firewall stiffener.

29A-06 Step 8

For aircraft in construction, the avionics bay should be sealed (Service Bulletin 13-12-12). I used Boss 820 Silicone Gasket lubricant as suggested by other builders as a release agent and Permatex Silicone Sealant 81158 to create the seal with good success after curing for 48 hours. I waited a week before removing the avionics bay cover. I then removed the excess releasing agent.

29A-06 Step 9

Be sure to rivet the most lateral nutplates before installing the avionics bay cover. This opening was labeled "Do Not Rivet" earlier in the plans and needs to be riveted at this point before attempting to install the avionics bay cover.

29-07 Step 2

I believe the instrument panels should go under the lip of the F1240 assembly. I found one bad nutplate so I would recommend testing that each nutplate grabs a screw head before starting to place the instrument panels. Consider using leather gloves when installing the panel screws.

Here is the image I have been waiting to take.

Mating Tail Cone

While I am waiting for the finish kit I went ahead and mated the tail-cone to the fuselage.

This thing is started to look like a real airplane!

Rear Canopy

Here is the rear canopy in place after match drilling #40. I used the opening for the fuel intake to pull the canopy tight against the turtle skins so that I could insert the #30 clecoes.