Forward fuselage riveting

I finally started riveting the forward fuselage parts, starting with the smaller ones:

Riveted smaller parts for the forward fuselage
I riveted the attach angles to the forward fuselage ribs:

Attach angle riveted to forward fuselage ribs
which, for some rivets, was kinda tricky with the squeezer, given the nutplates were already on:

Riveting through an opening to clear the nutplate
I riveted together the bottom forward fuselage bulkheads and seat rail supports (note - those nutplates could also have come later, would've made it easier to rivet them to the skin):

Bottom forward fuselage bulkheads riveted to forward seat rail supports
then started riveting the floor ribs:

Forward bottom skin riveted to floor ribs
Before riveting the next parts - the bottom forward fuselage bulkheads - to the skin, I decided to check how they'd fit against the vertical angles, and am glad I did - they did NOT fit, due to interference with that innocent-looking nutplate, on both sides:

Bulkhead hits the nutplate edge before the holes align :/

Other bulkhead also hits the nutplate before the holes align
That side of the bulkhead had plenty of edge distance, so I trimmed off another 1/8" from them with the bandsaw+grinder:

Bottom forward fuselage bulkheads marked for trimming

Trimmed bottom forward fuselage bulkhead
I then wrapped it in tape before the final edge deburring, such that the file would remove the tape only where I actually had to re-apply primer, and protect any existing primer:

Deburred trimmed bulkhead edge with tape for selecting priming

I then used the rattle-can primer for this small touch-up:

Primed trimmed bulkhead edge
and finally riveted those onto the skin as well:

Bottom forward skin riveted to floor ribs and bulkheads / seat rail supports
While waiting for my riveting partner (a.k.a. the wife), I also fabricated the landing gear mount shims, which are used slightly later in this section:

Landing gear mount shims cut to size
Next step is partially riveting the systems brackets, then it gets interesting, by joining the skin and parts above with the parts from the firewall section.

Time lapse:



Total forward fuselage ribs and bottom skin rivets: 438
Total forward fuselage ribs and bottom skin time: 92.4h