A big aluminum tube

Hours Worked = 5

That’s what I had on my work bench.

P1010711.JPG P1010712.JPG

I say “had” because the last thing I did tonight was completely disassemble everything in preparation for deburring and dimpling all those holes I just made.

But before the disassemble, I started the day by clecoing in place the two upper skins, along with drilling the stiffeners that go with them. Since the skin is the majority of the strength in an aluminum plane, this stiffened everything right up. In fact, you have to put the top skins in order to get everything in place and stationary before drilling the holes for the aft deck.

P1010708.JPG P1010709.JPG P1010710.JPG P1010714.JPG 

Next, you add a bunch of brackets that help support the tail feathers.

P1010715.JPG P1010716.JPG

Then you take off the top skin so you can match drill a pair of brackets to the longerons that will be anchor points for the rear passenger shoulder harnesses. You also need to mark the right skin to remove the triangle part that sticks in front of the front bulkhead. The triangle is left on the left skin.

P1010717.JPG P1010718.JPG

And finally the full disassembly.

P1010719.JPG P1010720.JPG