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1040L/R nutplate holes ?

mike newall

Well Known Member
Sponsor
F-1040-L/R has three holes for nutplates punched in the top of the part towards the rear of each side.

I can't see these holes on any of the plans, nor can I figure what they are for. The bracket that fits at the back partly covers the aft hole so I am curious.... is this a miss punch or an old part or something that is going to bite me in the bum at some point in the future ?

Having done a 7, 8 and 2 12's, these 10 plans need a revision soon ! There are so many places where a simple Fido Dido type balloon note would save a whole ton of head scratching and plan searching to explain things.
 
They are one of those “gotchas” that is so famous in chapters 27-29. Make sure to drill #19 and #40 and install rivets before installing the 1042E gussets or you will not have access to the aft rivet holes like you mentioned.
I put a “note” in my plans on page 29-15 to final drill them and a note on page 29-16 to install the K1000-08 nutplates after prime before step 4 which has you cleco the gussets in place.
Those nutplates will be used to attach the F-1042G left/right wire covers in chapter 35. (35-7)

Edit: Plans are overdue for a revision, I concur!
 
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Thank you for finding this. I will be doing this step tomorrow or Saturday and would have been scratching my head as well.

It appears that sections 27-29 were written at different times or different people. Section 28 is written like it is the first time you are ever building an airplane and holds your hands through so much. I also disliked the constant assembly of small sub parts rather than letting me do all the sub parts of the section. As someone who is priming, setting up and breaking down the primer setup got old! This section 29 has lots missing from it and lots of drawing inaccuracies. If you read the instruction literally, it never mentions rolling the left mid skin like you do the right. Additionally the constant having to reference back several pages for the rivet assignments to save a few pages of paper.
 
And when you get to riveting the 1040/1041 to the weldments, let me know how you get on........... One of our most challenging days of riveting in 15 years of building Vans.
 
F-1040, F-1041

I found the manual hand squeezer easiest for riveting along the bottom of the upper and lower channels vs the pneumatic squeezer which I use as often as possible. The manual rivet squeezer was easier to control the quality of the rivet while doing so from a blind location. Still trying to figure out how to get the front holes closest to the firewall though. Still not sure about the best way to get these without cutting back the flange that attaches to the firewall. Appears we are at the same place in the plans.
 
On another part of the build - search out long flush 1" head sets. I just got a 5" and a 7" one and oh my - they have solved a load of problems around the spar area with skin riveting.
 
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