I made a shelf for the space between the firewall and the subpanel. I’m going to put stuff like fuse blocks and all the little boxes on it. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of it clecoed in but I will eventually. It will be riveted to the top firewall angle and the bottom of the subpanel ribs. The aft edge has a bend in order to stiffen it up.
I also took apart the forward upper structure in order to dimple as needed for riveting.
Deburred more of the subpanel.
I did a bunch of little stuff on the plane. My builder friend Matthew mentioned that the control stick assembly gets in the way during wiring. Instead of going crazy trying to get it permanently installed, I just stuck in a few bolts and made sure the thing moves around as expected. Pretty fun.
In my attempt to finish up the fuselage kit, I looked around to see if anything else needed to be completed. I realized I never made the forward elevator push tube or the flap push rods. I pulled out the materials, cut them to length, and prepped for priming.
Getting back to the subpanel area, I drilled the forward top skin to the underlying structure. I pre-bent the skin a bit before I put it on, which helped quite a bit. The fit is actually quite good. I only had trouble with the outboard-most holes on the subpanel itself. Those two holes didn’t line up very well. Drilling to the firewall went extremely well. I followed Dan’s lead and peeled back one side of the skin to drill the angle that holds the middle rib to the firewall. I immediately removed the skin and deburred the firewall. It only took one hole in my finger to remember how sharp those stainless steel burrs are.
The holes holding the subpanel to the F-902 ribs were very tricky to drill, especially since I already have my forward canopy decks installed. It might have been better to leave those off until now. I managed by leaning over the sides and using the reflection in the aluminum to guide the angle drill.
I did a bunch more deburring on various parts. It shouldn’t take long to get everything deburred and dimpled.
I riveted the ribs to the outboard portions of the subpanel and clecoed the whole subpanel together. I clecoed the skin on in preparation for drilling.
I riveted the seal supports to the subpanel. I also made the big cut on the left rib. Dan outlined this modification on his web site. As supplied in the kit, the rib ends up right in the middle of the pilot’s field of view. By cutting it and moving the aft portion of the rib toward the center of the plane, there is much more flexibility in the placement of instruments.
I drilled the seal supports to the subpanel. I also drilled the ribs to the subpanel and deburred everything. There’s really no trick to the subpanel so far. It’s going together as described in the instructions.
There hasn’t been a lot of progress lately. I’ve been busy with many other activities and projects.
I did manage to debur some subpanel parts.
I did a bunch of minor work on the subpanel. I straightened the flange so it’s in line with the firewall. That helped with positioning the support ribs, which I drilled to the subpanel. I also drilled the seal support to the center subpanel.
Didn’t get much done on the project over the weekend. I had to go into work for a little while, and had some other projects going on.
I did drill the hat section to the subpanel along with the middle rib. I also trimmed the short support ribs.
Worked more on the subpanel seal supports and trimmed the hat section that goes on the back of the subpanel. I think the hat section covers some of the canopy release mechanism.