5/25/2007
I took the day off work today to enjoy a four day weekend. I worked a couple of sessions today, and this morning I started out by priming and painting the forward bottom skin (floor). I set that aside to dry, and then riveted the platenuts to the F-684 gussets.
Then the firewall was cleco'd back on along with all the stiffeners, auxiliary longerons, and 902 bulkhead/7101 gussets.
I LOVE how this is looking in black. If I don't go with a full interior, it may be a little warmer inside with the black paint, but it looks freakin' cool! It'll probably get covered up with side panels though...I do have to note Dave Parsons as the motivator for my black interior. He did it in his 7A, and I just thought it looked awesome!
I also primed and painted the side rails and dimpled the arm rests before taking a break for a while.
When I came back out this afternoon, the first thing I did (for no other reason than to get it done) was to cut my control sticks down. They are WAY too long from the factory, and would almost contact the panel if left alone. Plus, there is a stronger tendency to over control with longer sticks. I cut 4" off of each one. Then I started making stiffeners for the arm rests. These things are flimsy with no support, and can be easily bent if too much weight is put on them getting in or out of the cockpit. I am using 1/16x3/4x3/4 angle to beef these up.
This is not in the plans by the way, so I just made it up as I went. I did read something about this somewhere on the internet, but nothing showing how to do it. After all the drilling, deburring, and dimpling was done, I primed and painted those. After the paint dries, and rivets installed, I'll take a pic of them finished.
Next I cleco'd the baggage ribs back in and put the seat skins in with a few cleco's.
Lastly, I installed the grommets on each side of the fuselage. Don't ask why I did it now...I just saw it, and did it.
4.5 hours