Rudder and brake pedals, also riveted static ports: 7 hours

I spent some time locating various parts that make up the rudder and brake pedal assembly.

I then spent the majority of the time fabricating the brake pedal brackets out of aluminum angle. I also spent a large amount of time deburring and cleaning up these parts and the actual brake pedals. Since I'm going with dual brakes there are a total of 12 brackets that had to be made for the four brake pedals

When Britt arrived home from work she was nice enough to crawl into the back of the fuselage and help me rivet the static ports on.

This should be the last of any tricky riveting for a while.

 

Britt is always a good sport.

 

A lot of work for 3 rivets a side.

 

Drilling brake pedal parts:

 

All the brake pedal parts done, working on cleaning up the pedals:

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Riveting and static port prep: 4.3 hours

I did a little research and determined that I could go ahead and rivet the skin to the longerons forward of the upper skin piece I just finished. This went fast and turned out good.

I did more research and got the 1/4" holes for the static ports located and drilled. This involved going through 3 sizes of drill bits then a reamer to get a good fit. After that I located the 3 rivet holes one each static port and drilled those into the aft fuselage.

Other static port prep included the usual deburring and dimpling then I countersinked the static port fittings for riveting. I also primed the mating surfaces of the port fittings and the inside of the fuselage.

 

Static port fittings ready for priming:

 

Static port hole and rivet holes in aft fuselage:

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Riveted F-6111 stiffeners: 1.2 hours

I was a little worried about riveting the curved skin stiffeners but they turned out to be no big deal.

I used the rivet gun and tungsten bucking bar with good results.

 

Stiffener is the curved piece on the left side of the photo:

 

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More fuselage skin riveting: 3.5 hours

I used the hand squeezer and the rivet gun to finish all rivets on the upper skin aft of the cockpit other than the curved stiffeners.

 

Parachute egress opening is very secure after riveting.

 

Happy with the results so far:

 

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Riveting progress on aft top skin: 10 hours

Britt and I were able to finish all the two person riveting on the top skin. (Time is the combined time we both put in.)

We ended up using the the back riveting technique and it yielded very nice results.

For this I crawled into the fuselage with the rivet gun and back rivet set and Britt was outside with a special heavy bucking bar. I did some contortions, riveted and checked each rivet from the inside. Britt would buck the rivet then move the cleco, insert the next rivet, put riveting tape over the rivet and repeat. The process worked great and there was only one rivet we had to redo.

 

Lounging in the fuselage:

 

My beautiful partner:

 

Back riveting gives very smooth results:

 

The remaining rivets can be solo riveted or reached with the squeezer.

 

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Prepped top skin parts for riveting: 4 hours

I went through the entire prep process (deburr holes, edge finishing, scuff, edge roll, dimple, clean, and prime) on the skin, reinforcement plate and stiffeners. The skin and reinforcement plate also got overlapping edges beveled.

 

Parts primed - ready to rivet.

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