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| Firewall parts mated with the forward fuselage bottom skin and ribs |
This involves using a layer of sealant between the firewall bulkhead and the bottom skin - I used the 3M Firebarrier 2000, as others before me have, for some added fire protection:
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| Firewall bulkhead clecoed with sealant to the forward bottom skin |
Once the sealant cured, I riveted the parts together:
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| Firewall bulkhead riveted to the forward bottom skin |
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| Wife trying to find a good way to buck the rivets at the bottom flanges of the forward fuselage ribs |
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| Wood supporting the firewall bulkhead to she could support her knees on it |
and with that, got the whole thing riveted:
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| Fully riveted forward fuselage ribs (except the aft 4 holes) |
The spacing between the forward fuselage rib and the forward fuselage bulkhead (per the previous post) worked out great and I riveted the parts together:
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| Forward fuselage bulkhead riveted to attach angle, with proper spacing to the nutplate |
We then attached the floor ribs to the surrounding parts. Some pop rivets are used in the tighter area attaching the ribs together:
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| Inboard floor ribs riveted to forward fuselage bulkhead and firewall bulkhead |
Finally, we attached the center section bulkhead, by bolting/torquing its web to the ribs then riveting them:
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| Forward fuselage parts attached to center section bulkhead |
Special note goes to my newest accessory, rivet set caps - I thought this was silly, but the difference in the resulting rivet heads is blatant - even the coating of the heads was entirely preserved:
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| Rivets done with the caps (left row) vs rivets done without it (right 2 rows) |
The next step is the big attachment - mating the forward fuselage to the mid fuselage. We're doing the two sections in parallel, so we now need to finish riveting the mid fuselage.
Time lapse:
Total forward fuselage ribs and bottom skin rivets: 578
Total forward fuselage ribs and bottom skin time: 101.1h
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