Today, I got the whole aft fuselage riveted together, except for the holes along the bottom edge. I'll probably need a little help for the bottom holes in the middle. Patricia has already offered to help.
| The two rear bulkheads on the right are done. |
| The right side is done. Note, we only rivet up to, and including, the upper J-Channels. We need to be able to pull out the top of the side skins later when we install the longerons. |
| The left side is done. |
| All-in-all, these rivets look pretty good. I only had to drill out two rivets. The first was that one on F-707 that had the missed hole. I forgot about the backing plate, and the rivet was too short. Then I had to put in an oops rivet when I drilled it out. Then I had another rivet on the bottom side of one of the bulkheads where the flange stuck up too high, and I needed a longer rivet. Not bad for 400-500 rivets. |
| All that's left are those bottom rivets--next week. |
| This was a first. I actually got a blister holding the rivet gun. |