Had a productive afternoon in the shop today
riveting the panel base and associated items.
The F-00027-L&R com support brackets which have been held in place
with Clecos for many weeks were finally riveted in place on the F-1202B
instrument panel base. Next in line to be riveted onto the F-1202B panel
base was the F-00026-L&R instrument stack angles. The instrument stack
angles begin to give definition to the instrument panel.
Riveting the F-00026-L instrument stack angle
onto the F-1202B instrument panel base with the hand rivet puller. The F-00027-L&R
com support brackets in front of the instrument stack angles have already been
riveted in place.
Work continued by way of riveting the F-1202B
instrument panel base to the upper firewall and longerons. Care must be taken when riveting the F-1201A
upper firewall onto the F-1202B panel base in that the rivet’s factory heads should
to be placed on the forward side of the firewall. Also, there are 8 rivet holes
which are to remain un-riveted at this point in time as shown in one of the
photos below.
Using the pneumatic rivet puller to rivet the
F-1201A upper firewall onto the forward flange of the F-1202B instrument panel
base working from the center out.
On the right side of the F-1201A upper firewall are
eight rivet holes that are not riveted at this time designated with blue tape
on the Clecos … starting with the third rivet hole in from the right side of
the aircraft.
After the forward flange of the F-1202B
instrument base and upper motor mounts were riveted onto the F-1201A upper firewall,
the panel base was riveted onto the F-1255-L&R longerons. This was done
without the F-1202H-L&R canopy ribs in position … however, care must be
taken not to rivet the two rivet holes for the F-1202Y strut attach angles yet.
Using the pneumatic rivet puller to rivet the
F-1202B instrument panel base onto the F-1255-R longeron with LP4-3 rivets.
After both sides of the instrument panel base were
riveted onto the F-1255 longerons, the F-1202H-L&R canopy ribs were secured
onto the panel base with Clecos. Of note, builders need to pay attention when
riveting the F-1202Y strut attach angles because the rivets used here need to
be much longer … they are LP4-5 pop rivets because of the combined thicknesses
of the strut angle and the longeron.
Using the pneumatic rivet puller to rivet the
F-1202H-L canopy rib onto the F-1202B instrument panel base. The two rivet holes in the F-1202Y strut angle
with Clecos in them will require a much longer LP4-5 pop rivet.
Panel base, com supports, instrument stack
angles and canopy ribs riveted in place.
