Drilling center fuselage belly skin

July 22, 2014 – Over the last two days I started drilling the belly skin for the center fuselage.

I started out by fixing an overlap between the outboard seat belt anchors and their adjacent seat ribs. i just removed the anchor bracket and sanded off about 1/8″ from the edge. Now the fastener holes for the seat ribs line up.

I moved the assembly to the floor and started clecoing the skin in place. After it was all in place I back-drilled as needed.

Then I worked on the corner ribs. They had to be trimmed and fluted to fit. I clamped them in place and back-drilled them through the skin.

I still have to make the brackets that connect at the forward and aft ends.

I drilled all the rib attach holes to size at the F-704 and F-705 bulkheads.

The next step is to temporarily attach the forward half of the center wing spar. I got the assembly back on the table, then grabbed the spacers and the bolts to attach the two halves. I bought some 7/16″ bolts from the Aviation Department at Lowes to go through the wood spacers. I’m going to be wrestling this thing again so I can access the skin fastener holes at the forward end, drill them, and then I’ll start on the outboard seat ribs.

Time: 4:00