Dave’s RV-7A Building Log

Started deburring the other aft side fuselage skin.

Finished deburring and started dimpling the first aft side skin.

Deburred the aft bottom skin and dimpled around the edges with the pneumatic squeezer. Deburred most of one of the side skins. One or two more session and I should have the deburring done on the aft section. Then it’s time for dimpling with the C-frame.

More prep work on the aft fuselage. Deburred the rest of the stiffeners and dimpled them. Also dimpled the last bulkhead.

Dimpled a few more bulkheads and started deburring the stiffeners for the aft fuselage.

Deburred more of the aft fuselage parts, and started dimpling the bulkheads. From the comments I’ve seen on several web sites, I did a trial fit of a longeron into the slot on the bulkheads. Sure enough, it doesn’t fit. I filed the slot a tiny bit wider.

Disassembled the aft fuselage and started deburring the parts.

I drilled out the stiffeners on the other side of the aft fuselage and drilled out the rest of the holes (except as instructed). I marked a few places on the stiffeners that need trimming. The aft fuselage is ready to come apart for deburring and dimpling.

After a night off for dinner with a friend and watching election results, I’m back with the program. I drilled out the stiffeners on one side of the aft fuselage.

The joint between the side skin and the aft-most tail skin is not good. I really had to wrestle the skins together, and even then the holes didn’t line up well. I have all of the flanges on the bulkheads at the correct angle, so I guess it’s just a minor misalignment. There are a lot of parts joining together in the tail. Anyway, messing with those dozen holes took more time than then drilling out all of the rest of the stiffeners on the one side.

It also looks like I’ll have to file away a little bit on the bulkheads to get proper clearance with the stiffeners.

Made the flanges on the aft-most bulkheads square with the skin and then clecoed everything together. There are a few tight clecoes, but it otherwise went together pretty well. I then clecoed on the F-706 bulkhead and bellcrank rib. The bellcrank rib is a real tight fit. Once I make sure the whole assembly is square, it’ll be ready for drilling.