Scott & Tanya Card RV9A build log (N4822C)

Spent some time scuffing all of the center section ribs for primer. Still not done.

I have been slowly making progress on the fuselage center section. I spent most of last week just tinkering and thinking about all the stuff that is going to need attention in the cabin and baggage area.

I ordered and received both the ELT and strobe power supply so I could setup a mount for them under the baggage floor. The planning and fabrication of these mounts took a tremendous amount of time but I happy I did it now instead of later. I pretty much just borrowed the idea from Mike Schipper (thanks Mike). I also made holes for a bunch of adel clamps in the seat and baggage ribs. In locations where I won’t have access to the other side of the rib, I prepared for nutplates on the other side for the adel clamp bolt.
Another thing that I completed was making some baggage tie-downs. I’m using four AN3 eye bolts in each corner of the baggage floor screwed into nutplates that are reinforced with a piece of angle attached to the rib. I think this will work out well. We’ll see.

So, the center section preparation is complete. Match drilling is done, fabrication of little stuff is done, all parts are disassembled and ready for hole deburring, dimpling and priming.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

With the aft fuselage complete, I spent a few days preparing the center section ribs for pre assembly (edge deburring, parts fabrication, etc). Yep, one thing leads to another, and the first class cabin and baggage sections begin to take shape! Not that you should care, but I’m having a ball.

I made the little attachment straps for the corner rib on the baggage floor from some .032 sheet. This was the first opportunity to really use my new pneumatic sheet metal shears. I was amazed at how cleanly and easily I could cut a perfectly straight 3/4″ strip from a sheet. From this I made the four attach straps. I also prepared the seat rib cutouts for the control column clearance. I clecoed everything together and did some little fitting adjustments and match drilled.

Next up was aligning and drilling corner rib to the bottom skin. The angle of the rib didn’t match exactly. After much study and thinking about it, I determined that the critical edge is the forward one. The side skin actually attaches to the forward part of the angle, but not the aft portion. So, I made the forward edge of the rib match the lower skin.

There is going to be a lot of wiring and stuff in this area of the fuselage eventually, so I’m going to slow down a bit at this stage and try to consider future needs very carefully. I’m probably going to install some wire conduit and a bunch of additional snap bushings for wiring needs. It is clearly easiest to do this stuff while it is all open. I am also thinking about getting and preparing mounting of the ELT and strobe power supply before I get too much further.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

I’ve been slowly working on riveting the aft fuselage section for the past couple of weeks (interrupted by a vacation). I also decided to fabricate the rudder stops one slow evening that I didn’t feel like riveting. I hear that some people say the specified stop dimensions aren’t quite right and some end up having to redo them. If I find that to be the case, I’ll just make another set when I get there.

After all of the effort getting the tailcone section to fit, riveting went pretty well. The holes lined up and everything :). It took me about two or three hours just to get the last two bulkheads riveted into the tailcone. It wasn’t too hard, just tedious and time consuming. You have to figure out ways to block and clamp this stuff down while riveting so it doesn’t move all around. After I got the tailcone stuck together, it was time to move on to the big stuff. The bulkheads (except 706) were riveted to the bottom skin, then everything was clecoed together. I sorta’ started riveting at the tail and worked my way forward. I back riveted most of it with a standard back rivet set. This produced a very nice finish and was super easy. Tanya helped of course.

There are just a few more rivets to set, then it will be time to reset the garage (deal with bench clutter, put away all tools, and clean the floor) and get started on the center section. So the general process of rough parts prep, pre assembly, match drilling, deburring, priming, final assembly begins again.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

I recently received a tool order that I put together of some stuff that I wanted from Cleveland. The biggest item is a pneumatic sheet metal shear. This thing is very cool. Normal hand shears produce a cut edge that is slightly curled and serrated. Not very pretty. The pneumatic shears produce a cut edge that is almost perfectly square and clean. Very cool stuff. Why? Well, I can see the little customization projects coming with respect to brackets and such for the fuselage. Also in the tool order was a #8 nutplate drill jig. Forget using a nutplate to match drill with. There is a tool for that (if you are a tool junkie). I’ve been in a number of situations shooting 1/8″ universal head rivets where the normal 3″ straight set didn’t provide enough gun clearance, and an offset set was overkill, so I got a 5″ straight set. Maybe it will find a use now that I’m 2/3 done riveting airframe stuff :).

Hmmm… What else did I get? Some drill bits and another torque wrench. The original torque wrench that I got has a range of 25-100?”. An AN3 bolt is to be torqued to 20-25 lbs. A torque wrench is only accurate above about 20% of its lowest setting… So the new one is 10-50″.