RV14 Build March 20, 29, 31, April 1 &2
Section 35 Upper FWD Fuselage
I needed to assemble the rest of the FWD Fuselage.
Admittedly for the seemingly little work this should have been it was kind of a pain. The top strip didn't want to line up and fluting was not going to help that.
Finally with clekoes, some fluting, and brute force I was able to line everything up.
Installing the nut plates.
I had decided that I wanted the upper longeron top coated, so I painted before installing the Upper FWD Fuselage. After talking with Liz I decided to topcoat the parts of the upper fuselage that you will be able to see when the canopy is tipped up. So time to install it.
You can see the upper fuselage installed in the right of the picture already.
Pro Sealing the gab between the upper longeron, skin, and canopy frame seat.
Liz helping mask with tape the areas I don't want to topcoat!
Pop rivets installed.
I wasn't sure how to do this, I tried the band saw... Not great. Then I measured out the cuts on tape and used a dremel cutting wheel.
Tape on the tube after measuring, before the cut.
Cutting the tubes.
Trimming and grinding the release pins. I used the Scotch-Brite wheel to grind.
Release mechanism test fit.
Measuring the cowling hinges.
There are small canopy latch skin doublers, I over countersunk one and then decided I could fabricate my own replacement. The un-primed one is what I ended up with. After researching what this does, I dont think I made the 2 small openings square enough so I ordered a replacement.
Clamping the cowling hinge for drilling.
I was a little more reckless with the side hinges when I drilled them and they are not perfectly straight. I for see this being a pain when Im trying to install and remove the cowling. So I took all the time I needed to get this one as straight as possible.
Counter sinking the upper longeron after match drilling the skins. The cage doesn't sit well so I help it back and kind of free handed it, tested with a rivet (you can see in the 3rd hole) finished with a hand tools when I was close.
Dimpled the rest of the sub structure.
Countersinking the hinges.
The curved hinge was tricky so I had to be a little creative on how to hold the hinge while countersinking.
Primed the canopy hinges.
Got it all figured out and sprayed in the end.
Admittedly for the seemingly little work this should have been it was kind of a pain. The top strip didn't want to line up and fluting was not going to help that.
Finally with clekoes, some fluting, and brute force I was able to line everything up.
Installing the nut plates.
I had decided that I wanted the upper longeron top coated, so I painted before installing the Upper FWD Fuselage. After talking with Liz I decided to topcoat the parts of the upper fuselage that you will be able to see when the canopy is tipped up. So time to install it.
You can see the upper fuselage installed in the right of the picture already.
Pro Sealing the gab between the upper longeron, skin, and canopy frame seat.
I was a little annoyed about how Vans calls out pro-seal randomly during the build because these tubes are not cheap and I hate to only need a little and waste the rest. But this job uses 2/3 of a tube.
Liz helping mask with tape the areas I don't want to topcoat!
After the cabin was top coated I continued on section 35. Working on the canopy emergency release.
I wasn't sure how to do this, I tried the band saw... Not great. Then I measured out the cuts on tape and used a dremel cutting wheel.
Tape on the tube after measuring, before the cut.
Cutting the tubes.
Release mechanism test fit.
Measuring the cowling hinges.
There are small canopy latch skin doublers, I over countersunk one and then decided I could fabricate my own replacement. The un-primed one is what I ended up with. After researching what this does, I dont think I made the 2 small openings square enough so I ordered a replacement.
Clamping the cowling hinge for drilling.
I was a little more reckless with the side hinges when I drilled them and they are not perfectly straight. I for see this being a pain when Im trying to install and remove the cowling. So I took all the time I needed to get this one as straight as possible.
Counter sinking the upper longeron after match drilling the skins. The cage doesn't sit well so I help it back and kind of free handed it, tested with a rivet (you can see in the 3rd hole) finished with a hand tools when I was close.
Dimpled the rest of the sub structure.
Countersinking the hinges.
The curved hinge was tricky so I had to be a little creative on how to hold the hinge while countersinking.
Primed the canopy hinges.
Had a rattle can issue. It stopped spraying, but I could tell it still had paint, so i punched a hole in it to drain the paint out after the pressure left and use my detail gun to spray the paint with.
Didn't have all the pressure out yet. Oops
Got it all figured out and sprayed in the end.
Upper FWD Fuselage 19.0 Man Hours
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