Still More Forward Fuse Construction

I've been staring at these parts for several weeks.  I'd clamp them together then take them apart.  Refer to the prints and clamp them together again.

Kind of like a big jig saw puzzle.  Sometimes it went together good, sometimes not so good.

I finally think I have it and started drilling and Cleco-ing the Forward Fuselage Lower Frame Assembly together.

About 15 parts, maybe more, are used to construct the frame.  I started by marking the center line (CL) down the middle of the fuselage tunnel.

Next, I marked some location marks for the rudder pedal supports, left & right.

I drilled some pilot holes in the fuselage tunnel making a rivet line for the pedal support brackets.

Before drilling, I clamped the pedal support brackets in place.

Just about done drilling for the day.  Looking pretty good & measuring up well to my location marks.

The structure is strong even with just Clecos holding it together.  I know the location it attaches to the main spar, but, not sure how I will support it while fitting it to the spar.

I made a couple of 90 degree brackets to help support the forward floor support structure.  The prints showed 3 rivets.  My brackets are just a tad longer with 2 rivets on each side (4).

Internal shot of station 59.75 bulkhead.  I don't think the squeezer will fit in here.  Looks like it will be difficult to rivet.

Not sure of the riveting sequence yet.  There will be a floor on top and a belly skin on the bottom covering this area.

Speaking of riveting difficulties, riveting out in the tips of the rudder pedal support brackets will be hard to do out near the ends.  Looks tight.

A few more holes to drill then comes the fun part..........in no particular order..........deburing, dimpling, counter sinking, corrosion protection, etc. etc........(not necessarily in that order.)

Later,
Brian

More Forward Fuselage (Firewall)

The other day I started drilling out the #40 holes to #30.  Getting ready for the final construction of the firewall.

After correctly sizing the holes I deburred the holes and all the edges of the aluminum angles and filler shims.




The order of engine enamel paint came in from Aircraft Spruce so I primed all the Firewall parts with it.  All the aluminum parts.  Not the stainless steel firewall.

My motor mount is white so, I used black on the Firewall parts.

I let them dry overnight.  Before Cleco-ing and riveting the parts together, I wet the mating surfaces with paint, and just before it set, we finished riveting.



The paint will help to prevent moisture from collecting between the surfaces by means of capillary action.  (Thanks for the idea Jerry.)
 

I constructed a fixture on the bench to hold the Firewall firmly while driving rivets.

My friend Tom R. came over and assisted setting rivets.

Looks pretty good.  I like the circular brushed finish of the stainless steel.

The lower aluminum angle attaches to the forward fuselage floor and bracket assembly.  The whole assembly will then rivet to the Firewall along with the lower engine mount brackets.

The next step will be to mount the Firewall in the front of the plane.  Not sure how to do that as yet.

Here is a shot of the lower aluminum angle and floor.  I drilled the pilot holes in the floor and angle.  The center most hole is an alignment hole that will aline with a hole in the Firewall.

The outer ends of the angle need filler shims to adjust for the floor.

Last thing I did tonight was to start assembly of the forward fuselage floor "H" frame.

So, I am making slow but steady progress.  There are a lot of sub-assemblies in the forward fuselage.

Tomorrow I will clean the shop and regroup for next week.         Brian

Motivational collapse (Hey, It happens!)

I didn't get much done this last weekend.  My motivation has gone down as the leaves & temperature dropped.  It gets cold out in the garage and the leaves had to be cleaned up.

I have a four day holiday starting Thursday and I hope to make some progress on the firewall.  The firewall is a key component in completion of the forward fuselage.  (Lots of parts to test fit.  BLARG#$?!)

Drilling out the #40 to #30 size holes in firewall angles and doublers.  Getting ready for riveting exercises to commence.

"Test" fitting the firewall to forward fuselage components.

Another section of the forward fuselage is the floor and support structure.  (240.380 & 01 Left & Right forward floor support brackets.)  The engine mount brackets (240.3110) connect the structure to the firewall & Dynafocal engine mount (200.0010).

Floor structure and floor clamped on bench for test fitting.

Drilling rivet holes in the internal structure pieces may require a 90 degree right angle drill and some longer aviation drill bits.  Oh well, another tool purchase coming.  I'll have to wait until after the first of the year.

I wish everyone well and a Happy Thanksgiving!
Brian

Forward Fuselage Construction (Continued!)

I continued on with construction of the forward fuselage this weekend.

I started with the upper fuel tank supports, left and right.  I made a former block from some plywood I had around.  I cut the curve with a Roto Zip tool and a circle cutter.

Since the part is a compound curve, I cut the curve over size and used a belt sander to shape the formers to match the prints.  They came out pretty good.

I bolted the left side into the former blocks and placed it in a vice, tightened down so it will not move.



Take careful aim........

Whack! Whack! Whack!  (I hope this is right!!??)

Whack! Whack! Whack!  (Another tab bent down.)







Whack! Whack! Whack!  (A couple of more to do!  Blarg!, I hope I did this right!!??)







OK!  Looks OK.

In fact, it looks pretty good if I do say so myself!  Let's mount the other one in the fixture.  (Right side.)  We just need to bend the tabs on this one in the opposite direction.

 Hey, Not to bad.  A right and left side aux. former for the fuel tank support in the forward fuselage.  Part #240.3810

Here is a shot of the fuel tank mounting brackets "Clecoed" to the supports.  Part #240.3820

That shot a day.  Now to get finished with the firewall.

Later,
Brian

Forward Fuselage Construction

Earlier this summer, I started assembling parts of the firewall along with the other station bulkheads.

I marked the fuselage center line and the horizontal reference line (HRL).   I also located all the aluminum angles and clecoed them in place.

I needed to complete the firewall doublers.  The firewall had pre-drilled holes for the doublers.  I located the holes and then drilled them out for a 5/32 cleco to hold them in place.

I am using the #40 silver clecos to hold everything together prior to final drilling.
(#30 drill will be used for AN470AD-4 rivets.)

On the back side of the firewall I need brackets that tie the motor mount & firewall to the aircraft structure.  M-Aero supplies 5 engine mount brackets with the kit cut from an extruded aluminum channel of 6061-T6.  Very rough cut.  Probably made on a large toothed band saw.

Here I am filing the cut edges.  I started with a very rough file then a finer file and finished the edges in the 6" diameter 3M wheel.

Below are four of the five mounts at varying stages of completion.  From left to right, as sent by M-Aero, first pass with rough file, second pass with fine file, and buffed on 3M wheel.

 After clamping the firewall in place, I started to try to align and hold everything in place.  Very frustrating.  (I ran out of clamps!)  I will need to seek advice in the usual places.

Mustang Aeronautics, builders group, EAA Tech Counselor, and other builders in the area.

All of these parts go in the front somewhere.  So much to put together.  I'm getting a headache thinking about it.

Time to take a break.  I'll contemplate a little on these issues before I resolve them.

Later,
Brian

Stringer Straightening

After fitting the fuselage forward skins I saw a problem.  Take a look at the picture at right.  Can you see it?

The fuselage top stringers, 240.3690 R&L, are kind of not at the same height at the aft end.  The right side is 3" higher then the left side.  What did I do wrong?

I measured the bulkhead member heights at 73.75 and 99.35.  Looks good there.  I placed a level across the upper fuselage stringers and it was level.  Must be something wrong with one of the parts.  Which one?

(Note:  This is very similar to RC model plane kits.  Sometimes the parts aren't right.  Close, but needing adjustment.  No problem.  Make the adjustment.)

This was a good time to take a break and reflect on the prints.  Which print are the upper stringers on?  Blarg!@#  Now I have to dig and find the prints!  Relax, you have time.  Don't panic.  Think.  How can I find the correct print?

 Oh yea...My fuselage reference mockup I made last fall.  Very handy to have hanging around.  I am glad I made it.

I was able to find the upper stringers were item #11 on the drawings.  Quick use of the legend at the top of the page and I found the correct print number for making the stringers.

I could see by the drawings there is suppose to be a 3" bend down just after station 99.35 bulkheads.  Now just how am I going to bend a 1"x 1" angle of 6061-T6 aluminum without "kinking" it?  I don't have any kind of a bender.

I made a quick call to Mustang Aero and told Chris Tieman of my dilemma.  Chris told me to clamp a pipe onto the aluminum angle so as not to kink it.  After talking to Chris I was full of confidence again.  I removed the right upper stringer from the plane and laid it on my flat work bench.  Yup!  It needed to be bent.    

The shot at right is after I bent the stringer 3" and removed most of the clamps.

I strapped a 1/2" electrical conduit right up to where station 99.35 bulkhead would be.  I secured the remainder of the aluminum angle to the bench.

The conduit held the angle in place so it wouldn't kink.  Worked pretty good.

Here is another shot of the setup after I bent the angle.

I clamped the angle back on the right side of the plane and it looked good.  Nice symmetrical fit with the left side stringer.

This is how it goes some times.  Testing & fitting parts together multiple times to get the best fit prior to final assembly.  This process is repeated several times for each piece.

If you are a little off in a measurement or proper fit by the time you get the other parts together you'll end up way off.  So, lots of double and triple checking.  Each day a little more progress.

Tomorrow, I will work on the firewall and try and have it clamped to the forward fuselage side skins by the end of the weekend.  I have to keep going.

Later,

Brian

Start of Forward Fuselage

I finally leveled the CS wing in the fixture.  Looking pretty good.  Now I have the next phase of the build ahead.  Constructing the forward fuselage.  I clamped the upper fuselage stringers in place and removed the CS leading edges.

Next, I test fitted the forward fuselage side skins.  Had to make some rough cuts to adjust the fit.  The skins came pre shaped and marked up.  I measured and marked again just to be sure before I cut any metal.

 Here the skins are roughed in and clamped.  Before I can go any further I need to complete construction of the fire wall.

Side skins in place.  I will probably need to take the skins on and off a few times before calling this complete.  Lots to contemplate over the next week.

Later,

Brian

Building the fixture

The instruction book says to put the wing in a fixture.  Level it end to end using the top of the main spar.  Then level it from the leading edge to trailing edge using the wing reference line (WRL).  After all that, drop a center fuselage line down from the center section to the floor and draw a nice straight line.

Well, I did a lot of lay out work over the years and I did this a little different.  I cleared the floor space I needed to construct the fuselage and made a nice straight line.  I did this by stretching a nylon string really tight and touching the floor of the garage.  I checked my measurements a couple of times to ensure there was indeed enough room to continue construction.  I sprayed paint over the string to mark the floor.

The line was very faint so, I took a straight edge and marked it with a Sharpie pen.  To make sure it was straight I through a laser on it.  Looks good!

The bottom of the frame is 1 1/2 inch angle iron.  My friend Tom R. let me come over and use his welder to weld the angle into a rectangle.  (Thanks Tom!)  Before going to Tom's I had prepped the steel work by drilling holes for mounting brackets and bolting to the concrete floor.

The up rights that the main spar is attached to are made from clear pine 1x4 seasoned in my garage for just such a project.  It also has some 3/4 sanded plywood laminated to it for strength and anti warpage.  

I pulled everything square to put the uprights in an outward tension when the wing was placed on them. Tied the up rights together with cross bracing.  The outside dimension front to back is about 26".  This would place the wing mounting brackets around the 1x4 pine.

When all was ready Scott S. came over to help me lift the wing out of the vertical fixture I used to assemble the wing in.  (Thanks Scott!)  Hey, this thing is pretty light.  I wonder if it will fly?......

The CS wing fit like a glove in the new fixture.  Lots of room to work around and under it.

I had the fuselage center line located on the CS wing and the CS wing in the fixture.  Now I had to locate the wing's center line over the line on the floor.  I dropped a plume line down  from the line marked on the CS wing to the floor and gently moved the fixture to align the plume bob with the line on the floor. 

A little on the trailing edge, a little more on the front.....there we go.  I checked for squareness at station 73.75.  ( I made marks on the floor for each fuselage station for reference purposes.)

After aligning the CS wing to the floor marks I drilled into the floor and anchored the fixture to the floor with Red Head concrete wedge bolts.  Prior to tightening I leveled the CS wing and fixture.  Double zero on the main spar.

The WRL is a different story.  It is off by .7 degrees.  The top skin trailing edge pivots up at the last rivet row.  I will need to consult with the online builders group to get suggestions and ideas on how best  to adjust this.  I seem to remember a thread that spoke of a problem like this.  The builder just simply used a large mallet to shape it the way it needed to go.

So, there she is ready for the forward fuselage.  I will start that this next weekend.

Later,

Brian

Center Section Wing Is In The Fixture!

Hey, this is a blog site so I am going to rant on building a little bit.

First, it is a big decision to build just a bout anything. A house, car, boat, whatever. It starts with the first steps. Dreaming, investigating, brochures, and planning. Lot's of it. Building an airplane is no different.

I've had the aviation bug going back to my earliest memories. My mom nourished those thoughts by giving me aviation books and models.  (Still have the books.)  My dad was in the Army Air Corp during WWII. He was an armament specialist on P-47 Thunderbolts. Thanks Mom & Dad for everything!

My first General Aviation (GA) plane I bought was in one of those same books my mom got me in the 60's and early 70's.  (How to Buy a Plane.)  It took me until 2002 to really answer my call to aviation. I received my private pilots certificate on December 8, 2003, just before the 100th Anniversary of flight.

I purchased the flap kit for the Mustang II from Mustang Aeronautics in March of 2010. It was delivered in early April and I went on to complete it in June 2010.

There are quite a few things I learned about building from the flap assembly. Building will be hard at times. Building can be tedious. The smallest parts & tasks can (and usually do) take the longest to complete. But, on the other hand, building can and is rewarding and most importantly I can do this. I can do this! AND, so can you.

I have acquired some of the necessary skills needed to build a plane just by completing the flap kit. I also called Chris, at Mustang Aero with questions. (Chris is a wealth of information on the plane.) I joined the on line builders group, mustangaero, on Yahoo. I have been an EAA member since 2001 and have been a member of a local EAA chapter since 2010. (Not to mention all the building airplanes books and literature I have accumulated over the last couple of decades.)

All of that in the above paragraph helps to keep me on a track to complete my airplane. Everybody or group mentioned wants you to complete your dream. Some of those individuals will go out of their way to see that you are progressing to completion. This network of people is a great resource.

If you decide to build you will need your family's understanding and support. Without it you will not be able to complete the project or enjoy what you are doing. (You need some understanding also. You have to make time for the family , too.)

In October of last year I ordered the remainder of the plane. I received the plans and building instructions right away. I picked the plane up from Troy, Michigan, home of Mustang Aeronautics, on March 29, 2011. I started building right out of the box.

I found at times it was hard to find time to build. All kinds of other stuff just kept getting in the way. (Life)

If I get away from the project for a few days it takes me a day or two to get back in the swing or to find where I left off. So, plan, investigate, trim and fit, drill and debur, put together, take apart, try again.........and finally you get to a point where you feel you have accomplished something.

Maybe you achieve one of the small goals or a milestone in the building process that makes you feel like you have accomplished a major goal in your building timeline that really makes you feel you are going to build and fly this airplane in your lifetime!

With the help of several friends over the last weekend I feel I have crossed a point in the building of my plane that has made me feel very good and I have to say thank you for all of your help! Without it I would not be as far along as I am.

There you go! The wing center section is complete and on a new assembly fixture. I will now start assembly of the forward fuselage and back to the empennage. My next goal is to have the airplane on the "gear" by the summer of 2012.

It will happen as long as I keep trying to do a little each day. Planing & dreaming!

Later,

Brian

Riveting the Bottom Skin

Riveting the bottom skin takes a little planning and some help from a fellow builder. My arms are not long enough to hold the pneumatic rivet gun and the bucking bar.

I rigged the skin so I could reach underneath in some of the areas. There were also some access holes on the top side to reach through. Still it was fun.

We started at the main spar and worked our way to the trailing edge.

Looking up at the main spar joint. Used a few cushions to raise myself up to a comfortable position. I still had to reach all the way up to the spar.

I'm on the floor with the bucking bar and Dan H. is on the gun. If you get a good rhythm and timing thing going, the riveting goes pretty good.

The 1/8" rivets in the main spar were a little harder to drive. A few more "beats" on the hammer then on the 3/32" rivets. The 3/32" rivets held a majority of the skin to the bottom rib structure.

It sure helped to have those under seat storage holes! For most of the center of the center wing section I was able to reach through some type of access hole. A lot easier then lying on the floor and reaching up.

My florescent drop light fit right in to add a little light to the situation.

Here I am at the trailing edge of the center wing section. I'm using the main squeeze to set the last row of 1/8" rivets. I know some of the builders prefer a pneumatic squeezer, but for the few rivets needed to be squeezed this is pretty easy.

Next step is to get some iron welded up to make a fixture to hold the center section flat and level. Then I'll be able to start on the forward fuselage structure.

Later,

BWW