Fuselage - Center Section

2005-08-14 - Preparing the center Fuselage. (3.5 Hrs).

After completing the AFT section, the center section comes next. Usually, when starting a new section, time is spent looking over the plans, reading the manual, and looking for parts. Today was no exception. I managed to fabricate the four F-916C spacers, and get started on modifying two of the F-716L/R seat ribs for the F-716B Seat Rib Access Plates.

Of course, before starting on the center section, I remembered that I needed to set the rivets in the end of the F-729A bellcrank rib. The middle rivet could be squeezed, but the other two rivets needed to be pounded. The bottom rivet required the offset rivet set, because it was so close to the bottom of the fuselage. No problems here, for a change.

Take care of the end rivets in F-729.
Fab the four F-916C spacers.
Cut the hole in F-716R using a 1 1/2" hole saw.
Finally, a perfect place to use the nibbler--worked great.
The rib is trimmed and marked for the cuts that need to be made. This section has to be removeable so the controls can be slid into place. Note, that the top mark is not correct, as you can see in the next picture.
This part is removeable...
...and is held in by the F-716B Seat Rib Access Plate.