Primed and Riveted center section
Alright, this weekend started with a big push to get the center section parts primed. All of the ribs had been scuffed earlier in the week and Tanya spent a couple of hours on the driveway Saturday morning washing them in soap and water. Everything was dry by the time we got back from lunch (Chipotle Grill, yum). Back from lunch fat and happy, it was time to prime. Tanya mixed the primer and I setup the hose and gun.
By evening everything was dry and I was ready to start assembly. This scene is kind of like Christmas morning. I’ve got a freshly primed batch of parts that are just crying for rivets. Don’t even try to capture my attention for the rest of the day. Tanya is well aware of how this goes so she was off to a friend’s house to hang out for the rest of the evening. Is she the best or what? She helps prime, then vacates when I dive in for assembly.
Ok, back to airplane building. I began by installing all of the platenuts that attach the seat skins to the ribs. I had also prepared a few platenuts on each of the center ribs for the attachment of adel clamps for securing wiring. (end of the long descriptions) Then on to my baggage tie-down solution. I don’t know how the vans recommended solution would be worth anything.
Guess who showed up when it was time to rivet on the bottom skin. Yep, Tanya was on deck with the rivet gun for a couple of sessions of skin riveting while I bucked. So we finished driving the bottom skin rivets and set the assembly back up on the bench. It sure is easy working on the center section up on the bench. This is the idea behind all of the pre-emptive efforts with mounting the strobe pak, ELT, baggage tie-downs, and wiring conduit and securing.
