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RV7 Vern Head 71139

After assembling and match drilling the fuse tail section, I disassembled for deburring, edge shaping, dimpling, etc. As I was getting the parts ready for assembly, I started looking around the shop and decided I had to do something before I began the next phase. I replaced some old wall board, painted and generally reorganized.
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Sooooo much brighter. Now to get on with it.

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Putting things back together. I fastened the bulkheads in place first, then the stringers. This assembly got rigid in a hurry.

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This assembly almost made me wish I built an /A. Almost...

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Finally have the tail cone in place. Now to start the riveting. Before I did that, I got the laser out and checked alignment again. Looking good so I started the assembly.

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Finally have the tailcone riveted together up to the upper J channel.

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Getting started on the center section with the seat ribs. I spent some time trying to figure out the access ribs and the clearance ribs. Finally. I marked and cut the ribs as shown.

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This is the completed access rib. You will want to finish attaching the reinforcing plate to the cutout rib piece before installing the nut plates.

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With all the ribs cut and the rib nut plates installed I attached the ribs to the F704 aft bulkhead and the F705 bulkhead. You may notice F705 is modified for the Anti Splat Almost a 14 seat mod.

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Next, the baggage area ribs are attached to F705. This takes some patience as the two ribs share clecoes in several spots AND there are small spacers in 4 spots. I found I could put a clecoe in from the front to hold the rib and spacer in place while attaching the baggage rib with another clecoe, then push the first through without loosing the spacer.

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After this photo I discovered that I had mistakenly attached one rib in the wrong place, twice. This became obvious when I tried to attach the skin.

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Center section skin in place. I had this assembly vertical for assembly but couldn't leave it like that for the night so I laid it back down.
Looking more like an airplane everyday.
 
Vern, if you haven?t riveted up the floor ribs yet, now is a good time to install crotch strap brackets.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I really appreciate the tips. You don?t know what you don?t know.
We had some close storms and I?ve been on a generator since Sunday. Hopefully back in the shop by Friday.
 
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