Quick Build Fuselage ramblings 

Got tired of working on the panel during the Thanksgiving holidays so I decided to wrap up a few thing in the fuse...

Here I am drilling the ends of the elevator pushrod for the inserts.  After this I prime both inside and out of the rod and pop on the ends.  Inserting the rod is no picnic but if you bend it a bit and flex the rear bulkhead aft of the baggage well it will drop into place.

Here it is inserted and hooked up to the control weldment.

Above you can see that I put the finishing touches on the aileron trim.  It's best if you install the trim motor BEFORE you put any of the control column weldments in place.  You will need every inch of room to be able to match drill those #6 screws.  Since my little black relay box was only a foot away I just popped two holes with snap bushings over and I was connected.  Works like a charm.

I also hooked up my infinity grip.  Here's the line up:

top left thumb switch is flaps ( moment down positive up )

center top had is trim

right top thumb button is fuel pump.  ( the logic here is that you have your entire landing check list under your thumb :-)

middle stick button is prime

bottom button is starter ( I put a slight twist in the stick when I mount it so my pinky does not rest on the starter button but I can reach it when I want to )

It was then time to final mount the flap weldments and seal up the flap motor compartment.  I went ahead and used two #2 adel clamps with a pair of #8 screws to anchor down the wires.  I also popped a hole at the base of the weldment to run the wires through a 3/8 snap bushing.  I'm really glad I decided to run all my wires through 3/4 inch snaps under the seats instead of running anything through the control column.  I just never felt to comfortable about that elevator push rod in the same space as all those wires headed back to the tail.

I oversized the holes in the side panels to get them to lay flat.  I also decided on this RV to use stainless #20 torx everywhere.  They are very easy to insert, just insert the tool and twist.  No pressure or alignment of the tool needed.  It's amazing how much you end up removing and replacing all the panels in your plane.  I just toss a hand full of torxs bits in my aircraft tool kit.

I also took some shots of my steps.  I decided to solid rivet them on and use 063 doublers behind the flange to ensure the rivets would not pull trough the skin.  There is some fine tuning required to ensure the aft bottom corner follows the curvature of the skin.  Nothing that a ball peen hammer can't handle.

I cut the corner off of a sandwich bag, and stuffed in some proseal and sealed up the bottom of the step to keep out water.  I also beveled the edge of the weldment to give it a more finished look and shot some flat black to add some contrast.  I'm sure they will be painted over when I get it painted but until then I have to live with what I do now, so what the heck.

I decided to forgo the seat back adjustment parts after talking to several 6A builders and finding out that they are never used.  The construction was the easy part ( no tricks here ) then on to priming.

And final assembly.

They are in the paint booth drying now so more picts tonight...

Out of the paint booth and ready to go flying

Also worked on my control panel.  I picked this up from Experimental Air.  Way cool to say the least.  Out of the box it's kinda rough.

A little time on the grinding wheel.. it's beautiful and ready for mounting.

Rear top skin...

Fuse top skin is now match drilled with triangular gusset F-688 installed per the plans.  I went ahead and drilled the F-688 to the skin in every other hole on the bench before match drilling it to the fuse ribs.   I found that the forward bulkhead did not line up with the skin without pulling the attach points with the clecos into alignment.  By predrilling the F-688 to the skin this problem is alleviated. 

F-6111 -  Ribs ( get ready to spend some time on this one ).  The instructions are really sparse in this area so listen up.  These bad boys are twisted and trimmed into shape but not cut.  DO NOT CUT THESE PARTS as they will fit just the way they are.  Hard to believe when you hold them up to the top skin but there is a process to follow, just like every thing else.

First: Draw center lines on the ribs like so:

This sets the stage for step 2 ( grind off the bottom of the rib by trial fit a little bit at a time until you are flush with the side rail ) like so:

Next, align up lines on the rib with the predrilled holes in the skin and start drilling from the bottom up;

Keep pushing the rib around bending it slightly as you go and matching up the line against the holes as you drill.

Keep this up, and as you get closer to the top, grind this end to fit as well as shown below:

Finally the finished product:

Ready for dimpling, priming, and riveting.

I just have to take a moment and rave once again about my fuselage stand.  Beg borrow or steal yourself one of these bad boys.  The more I use it the more I like it.  This is one of those investments you just can't do without.  Best of all you can sell it when your done.

Here's a shot of me marking the top of the F-6111 rib with the stand rolled over so I can get a better angle to make my mark.  Without the stand, I would have to stand on my head to make this mark. 

Brakes...

Brakes are complete with the exception of the lines which are on order from Summit Racing.  My experiences with Van's nylon brake lines was pretty bad on my 8.  I had constant leaks until I managed to get everything just right after weeks of screwing with it.  This time around I'm going with AN hardware and steel lines.  This should be a much more robust solution, leak free and very reliable.

Brakes: 

First order of business... Brakes.  I went ahead and ordered brakes for the passenger.  I know if I was flying the right seat and my pilot passed out I would hate to emergency land the bird only to run off the end of the runway :-(

Follow the plans, make the parts, it's cook book.  At this point in the plans the directions are a lot more brief, "build the pedals".  Fortunately the drawings are good.

A key pint to remember here ( and this will make more sense when you read the drawing ) is that the 1/2 inch distance called out on the side with only the angle is all important.  Much more important than the 1/4 inch from the top.

All done, time for priming and paint.

Once primed and assembled, I shot two coats of  flat black Rustoleam and covered with wing walk material.

The trick to aligning the break pedals is to find the angle that works best for you on the left pedal, and drill the master cylinder on and bolt it in place.  Then, clamp the left and right pedals together, line up the center point at a right angle to the attach block, and sight down the left pedal to align the right pedal.  Drill and attach the right pedal to it's master cylinder.

Here is the final assembly with three positions drilled.  The first position is farthest forward ( no closer than 3 inches from the firewall ), the second is one inch back from that, and the third is one inch back from that.

Significant material must be removed from the center support to clear the firewall recess.

Here's another shot of the finished center support with all attach holes drilled.  Van's recommends that you drill significant lightening holes in this support but I'm going to wait and see that there is nothing I want to attach to it like cables or wiring during the final assembly stages.

It was a dark and stormy night ( no... really! )

( Wednesday February 25th 2004... )

Just my luck, I get the call from the freight company and as I'm trucking my QB Fuse crate from the freight depot to my hangar it starts to rain, HARD....

First drag current RV out.

Put new RV in.

I was sweating bullets over opening the crate to see if there was damage.  You see... My 8A QB had issues with Yellow freight.  They basically crushed the firewall bulkhead and the one aft of that by setting a rather large engine block on the front of the crate.  Hey, what can I say, stuff happens..... so you can imagine how happy I was to see that there was not a scratch on this fuselage.

WOO HOO!  It was in perfect shape.  Not ding or scratch one.  Man was I a happy camper.  This is always a nail biting experience when you consider the wait is months long and the shipment to and from Van's to the assembler is via ship.  It's heart breaking when you get down to the last 5 yards and the freight company drops the ball.  Well, all turned out great this time around.  Life IS GOOD!