Center Section Top Skin Riveting

Dan H. came over today and we were able to set a few rivets. It is kind of an art to set rivets with a pneumatic gun & bucking bar. Very much like "Rosie" the riveter did in WWII.

Dan H. is on the wood stool driving the rivet with the pneumatic gun. I'm in the lawn chair holding the bucking bar trying to make nice looking shop heads on the rivets.

Remember from the flap kit. You don't want to smash them too much and you don't want to smash them too little. They have to be just right for maximum strength.

Some of the rivets I was able to reach with my main squeeze. When ever you are using a squeezer you are just about guaranteed to have nice uniformed shop heads on the rivets.

Here is a shot of the left edge of the center section from the bottom side. These are AN426AD-3-3.5 rivets set with the squeezer.

This is a shot of the top of the wing walk area. All flush rivets. It helps to write notes to yourself prior to riveting or for that matter even drilling holes. You can see in a glance what needs to be done.

All the writing is done with a sharpie. A so called permanent marker. They are not so permanent. Sharpie ink wipes off with denatured alcohol and a rag.

After Dan and I used up all the AN470AD-3-3.5 rivets Dan had to leave. It was a long afternoon.

I started laying out the next phase of the assembly. The control tunnel and fuselage stringers.

Lots of parts to find, align, cut, drill, debur, & dimple. Sounds like fun!

Brian