Tail Cone

Amber helped me prep the parts for the battery/bellcrank mount. I deburred the parts and she completed the final sizing of the various holes. I then countersunk the nutplate holes. I separated the bellcrank parts and cleaned up the edges… Read More »Battery/Bellcrank Mount

I continued on the tailcone today starting with the match drilling of the stiffeners to the forward top skin. I then match drilled the top skin to bulkhead holes (with the exception of the forward bulkhead). After this was completed… Read More »Tailcone Top Skin, Aft Deck

Match drilling.. lots of match drilling. I match drilled the right skin to the bulkheads, the left skin to the bulkheads, the rear bulkheads, the bottom skin to the bulkheads, and the bottom skin to the side skins (everything but… Read More »Tailcone Match Drilling

I clamped the longerons into place and match drilled them to the left and right skins. The holes are match drilled with a 3/32″ drill bit. They are final sized to #40 later with the top skins. I double-checked for… Read More »Tailcone Longeron Match Drilling

I continued work on the tailcone over several short work sessions. A task here and there adds up. I clecoed the baggage bulkhead into place and match drilled the bellcrank ribs to the bulkhead with a reamer. Hannah helped remove… Read More »Tailcone Longerons Ready for Match Drilling

Onwards to the left tailcone skin. The remaining bulkheads are clecoed into place first. I then removed the vinyl from the inside of the left skin and deburred the edges. The left stiffeners are then put into place… … followed… Read More »Tailcone Left Skin Match Drilling

I deburred the bottom tailcone skin in the previous session and continued with clecoing the tailcone together today. The bellcrank ribs attach to the lower front of the tailcone. I removed the vinyl from these and deburred them. The fuselage… Read More »Tailcone Stiffener Match Drilling

I 3D printed an offset marking gauge yesterday and I used that to mark the rivet centerlines in the stiffeners today. Still amazing to me that you can download and print a useful tool on demand (and in this case… Read More »Stiffener Marking, More Deburring

I started this evening by trimming the tailcone stiffener j-channels. There are two lengths of j-channel provided (6′ and 8′) so I marked all of the cuts and advance to make sure I didn’t end up with any unusable cut-offs.… Read More »Tailcone Stiffeners and Longerons

I spent the rest of my shop time today continuing to prep the tailcone fuselage bulkheads and fuselage frames. I started with marking and match drilling the F-1011A bulkhead stiffener to the F-1011 fuselage bulkhead. I marked the stiffener, clamped… Read More »Tailcone Bulkheads