Mid-fuselage bulkheads complete

It's been a long time coming, but the first section of the fuselage kit is complete!

I bolted and riveted the mid seat rail supports to the forward center section:

Mid seat rail supports riveted to forward center section

then the forward center section bulkheads:

Completed forward center section

Similarly, for the aft center section, which has aft seat rail supports:

Aft center section bulkhead sides and aft seat rail support

and the hat stiffeners:

Center section hat stiffener

Complete aft center section bulkheads

Did I say it's complete? I lied - there's actually one small part left - the L-shaped bar at the end of the center section didn't fit (the drilling is done in the inverted position and I forgot to try it out and grind it to fit :/ ) - I'm delaying that until the next batch of primer.

Stiffener angle that needs grinding down

Time lapse:



Total mid-fuselage bulkhead rivets: 617
Total mid-fuselage bulkhead time: 59.2h

Mid-fuselage ribs primer and riveting

I deburred all the mid-fuselage ribs to prepare for primer, then primed them:

Priming various parts including mid-fuselage ribs

Some primed mid-fuselage ribs

I riveted the outboard seat ribs and their intercostals:

Outboard seat rib

Outboard seat ribs fully riveted

then the inboard seat ribs:

Inboard seat rib partially riveted

Inboard seat ribs clecoed to aft center section

I haven't touched the bottom skin yet - those are the holes I'll work on after primer, to ensure exact alignment (this is too many interlocked parts accumulating small differences in thickness between the plastic and the primer). This means priming the rest of the ribs, which in turn means defining what modifications to them I need for the conduits.

Time lapse:



Total mid-fuselage ribs rivets: 132
Total mid-fuselage ribs time: 31.9h

Mid-fuselage bulkheads primer and riveting

We primed all the mid-fuselage bulkhead (and some of the mid-fuselage rib) parts:

Washing parts for primer with Prekote

Priming parts

Primed mid-fuselage (bulkhead and ribs) parts

More primed mid-fuselage (bulkhead and ribs) parts

Even more primed mid-fuselage parts

and then started riveting them:

Riveted mid-seat rail supports

Center section bulkhead with the doubler installed

Rear side of the center section bulkhead doubler

Mid-seat rail supports in position

Most center section parts are also bolted on, so I torqued those properly:

Torquing mid-seat rail supports to the center section

I did the same for the aft center bulkhead:

Aft center-section bulkheads with doublers installed

After clecoing those parts to the bulkhead, I torqued all the bolts:

Aft center-section bulkheads assembled with bolts torqued
and riveted the plastic wear strip:

Wear strip pop-riveted to aft center section bulkhead

I riveted the rear spar side channels:

Rear spar bulkhead side channels with gussets and nutplates installed

and started riveting the rear spar attach bar, only to realize halfway into it that the shop heads were supposed to go on the other side :(

Rear spar attach bar, with rivets on the wrong side :(

After replacing those rivets, I finished riveting the spar attach bars and the idler arm brackets:

Riveted rear spar

Finally, I riveted the fuselage bulkhead (rearmost bulkhead, just before the baggage compartment), which has surprisingly little done to it at this stage:

Riveted fuselage bulkhead

Time lapse:



Total mid-fuselage bulkhead rivets: 413
Total mid-fuselage bulkehad time: 53.6h