Baggage area riveting

I started riveting the baggage area. The nutplate rivets on the upper baggage seal channel were going to be just impossible to buck, so I used Cherry nutplate rivets (CCR series) instead:

Upper baggage seal channel nutplates riveted with cherry rivets

Painted and riveted upper baggage seal channel

I attached nutplates in most places that called for them, except those that would attach them through multiple parts:

Baggage bulkhead corrugations with wear blocks and nutplates on

Rear seat floors with nutplates on (some rivets were replaced after this)

Baggage floor inspection panel doublers with nutplates on

Baggage floors with O2 tank attachment doublers, inspection panel doublers and nutplates on

We then installed the Clickbond mounts for running the conduits underneath the baggage area:

Sanding Clickbond mount attachment areas, protected with tape
Sanded areas for Clickbond mounts
Clickbond mounts attached to bottom skin
All Clickbond mounts attached to bottom skin for conduits
Since we were doing that, we also installed a few of the Clickbond mounts farther forward:

Clickbond mount for running wires into the wing connectors
Clickbond mounts for running wires across the rear seats

One of the Panduit conduit brackets ended up being drilled too low :( so to remedy that without having to drill yet more holes, I made a shim for it:

Panduit conduit bracket and 3D-printed shim
3D-printed shim firmly attached to Panduit bracket
I can't, of course, claim that I got those dimensions right on the first try, so it took a few attempts:

All 8 attempts to get the Panduit shim right
Panduit bracket with shim, riveted in place
Checking conduit clearance with Panduit bracket and shim

Now I'm just waiting for the GripLockTies to attach the conduits, before I rivet the floors for good - once that's done, finishing multiple other sections (like the baggage door) will also be possible.

Time lapse:



Total baggage area rivets:
Total baggage area time:

Rudder pedal and Beringer attachment

I drilled the rudder cable guides:

Plastic rudder cable guides

then removed rust from the pedals, rust-converted the interior of the tubes, and assembled them:

Rudder pedals assembled

Safety-wired bolts at the center of the rudder pedals


The holes in Beringer's provided bracket for the ALIR regulator, as expected, did not match the delrin bearing block from ControlApproach, so I duplicated it in .080 aluminum to drill new holes:

Original Beringer ALIR bracket (left) and duplicated one for drilling new holes (right)

Per Beringer's manual, I bent the bracket's tip so it hangs lower than the pedal tubes:

Bent ALIR bracket

I duplicated the regulator holes from the original bracket and checked that they still matched the regulator:

ALIR regulator attached to yet-uncut bent bracket

then match-drilled the ControlApproach block into the other end. One deviation from Berginer's suggestion here is that I'm mounting it outboard, since the ControlApproach pedal arms go inboard:

ALIR regulator and bracket installed underneath the rudder pedal brace

I also match-drilled the Beringer parking brake bracket to the (standard) left pedal bearing block, and switched the -22A bolts on these and the center blocks to -23A to account for the added thickness (even though Beringer's manual for some reason still calls for 22?):

Left bearing block mount plate, bearing block and the Beringer parking brake bracket

And then...I saw this post and the install instructions for the Aircraft Specialty hose kit, and changed my mind :) having the regulator on the right side would require the hose to go from side to side twice, so I decided to instead do a cleaner variation of what they did - to attach the bracket along with the regular bearing block mounting plate, I decided to make a combined part:

Outline of new bearing block mounting plate, combining the arms for mounting the ALIR regulator


Combined bearing block mount plate after rough cutting

Combined bearing block mount plate compared to original parts

Combined bearing block mount plate attached to longeron

Combined bearing block mount plate attached to longeron, bearing block and regulator

This is about the same weight as the original 2 parts (in spite of being .125 vs .080 for the original bracket, since it's also removing duplicate material), and is much simpler and less hacky. I didn't bend the arms this time - as long as I keep the pedal in the aft hole of the delrin block, there's no interference - and if I ever need to move it to the forward hole, then I can bend the arms.

I test-installed the pedals with all this, mostly to measure and try out the hoses:

Pedals installed in place with the combined bracket, regulator and parking brake

Regulator screws showing no interference with the pedal

Regulator showing no interference with the pedal or firewall

I still need to remove the left mount plate and prime it, and I can start looking at hoses - from Beringer's video they seem simple to make, but I have no way to pressure-test them, so I'll likely just order them from Aircraft Specialty or TS.

Time lapse:



Total rudder pedal rivets: 0
Total rudder pedal time: 7.8h

Baggage door riveting

I riveted the door frames and bracket to the skin, which required supporting it properly, but gave good results:

Frames and bracket clecoed to the skin

Frames and skin supported for riveting


Skin riveted to frames and bracket

Finding the right lock was a small quest - Van's only sells one along with an ignition switch, which I don't need, and I wanted something as flush as possible. I initially tried to find KABA-style cam locks, but finding one with the right size (5/8"-3/4" diameter, 5/8" length) proved to be just impossible. I ended up getting a few different ones from Amazon and mixing their parts - I used the cylinder from this one, the cam (bar) from this one, and the locking washer from this one (after flattening its "claws" and then introducing a slight curvature):

Mix of cam lock parts

Curved washer

Cam lock aseembled in door
With this in place, I riveted the inside close-out panel:

Door, fully riveted with close-out panel
Next is actually attaching the door, after the floors are riveted in.

Time lapse:


Total baggage door rivets: 114
Total baggage door time: 12.1h

Rear seat back riveting

After painting, I riveted the rear seat backs:

Left rear seat back fully riveted

Aft side of left rear seat back, fully riveted

With this, they're ready to be attached in place (as soon as the floors are riveted in as well):

Rear seat backs in place

Rear seat backs as seen from the baggage compartment


Time lapse:


Total rear seat back rivets: 96
Total rear seat back time: 14.2h

Seat floors completed

The last remaining part of section 28 (Forward fuselage ribs, bulkheads and bottom skin) was to rivet the front seat floors, even though they don't get attached until much later (in the Finish kit), so I deburred, primed and painted those, then riveted them:

Primed, painted and riveted seat floors

Time lapse:


Total forward fuselage ribs, bulkheads and bottom skin rivets: 954
Total forward fuselage ribs, bulkheads and bottom skin time: 136.3h

Started painting fuselage interior parts

After the primer batch, I decided to paint the primed interior parts that would be visible:

Painted baggage door, baggage area and rear seat parts

Painted baggage door and tailcone attachment parts


Painted floors and rear seat backs

Painted cover plates

There are aparts already attached to the fuselage that may also need painting, plus most section 35 parts are not finished/ready for paint yet, but I'll do those later.

Overall, painting with the spray can was just sooo much easier than the HVLP, and I was pretty happy with the results.

Time lapse:



Total paint time: 1.5h
(but I'll count the total time in each section for the parts, proportionally)