Fuselage - AFT Section
Started the "Big Bend" on the left longeron. Of course, before I could bend anything, I had to install my vice. I wanted to get right to the "Big Bend", but decided to follow the plans, and cut the notch out of the aft end of the longerons, first.
Finally, I got to bend the left longeron, and guess what, as with most of the other "big events", it wasn't. The left longeron was bent pretty close after the first 10 minutes. Of course, bending it sideways makes it bend up, so you have to bend it back down a little, which causes the side bend to change a little, and so on. But after about a half-hour, I was finished with the left longeron.
One note, Van's instructions say to make sure that the template is usable from both sides. This is another of those places where I think the tech writer is being humorous. Think about it. The template is for the left longeron, so you use it on the left longeron, with the longeron right side up. When you use it to measure the right longeron, just hold the right longeron upside down. If you hold the longerons together, top-to-top, they had better match. Like I said, the tech writer is a comedian.
 | I needed to bolt my vice to the bench, which took all of 5 minutes. Of course, nothing is simple, because I spent another half-hour filing down the edges of the vice teeth. Then I had to tape it up, and my duck tape was a mess. As I said, nothing is simple. |
 | Notch the aft end of both longerons. |
 | Finaly, the "Big Bend". Things look pretty good at the 69" mark. |
 | Really nice at the 38" mark. |
 | Pretty close at the 28" mark. Hey, it only has to be within 1/16", which it is. |
 | Left side looks good, time to go to bed. |