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How'd you do that? F-01479 page 10-18
After spending two hours last night trying to get this assembly into place, I thought I'd better get some help before bending something. I've checked multiple builder's web sites and seems nobody is having much of an issue with it. Trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. F-01479 goes between the F-01478 (skin) and the F-01411 bulkhead. I'm not having much trouble there, it's getting the skin to fit aft of this point. By the way, the plans are vague, I'm assuming that the F-01479 skin goes BETWEEN the stringers and the fuse skin.
How'd you do it? [IMG] [/IMG] |
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Because of the finished / installed shape of this part vs how it is made, it will not be a perfect net fit. It will require some pushing and messaging and use of a lot of clecos. Possibly every hole, and then remove them a couple at a time while riveting. It really needs the side skin in place on both sides to be able to get it all pulled down tight. A general rule of thumb for skin stack-up on RV's is that the skins always lap over, from front to back, and top towards bottom, with only a couple of exceptions. For front to back think of what profile would pass airflow most freely, and top to bottom, think what would shed dripping water the best, to avoid it going inside. |
What Scott said....
Not sure how much harder it might be on a taildragger, but for me it took some grunting, cussing, and bleeding but it got done.... Once all the pieces are in place and riveted, it's amazingly strong and rigid. |
I also recall getting everything to fit in this area was tough. I did a lot of fit checks, and indeed had to use a cleco in every hole while riveting. Once done though it felt strong enough that you could park your truck on it.
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It appears that I was as vague as the manual. My apologies.
I can't get F-01479 to fit aft of the F-01411 bulkhead. I can get it started between the bottom skin and the bulkhead, but that's it. I can't compress it enough to get it between the fuselage skins (left and right). I'm a long way from riveting as the assembly is still sitting on my workbench waiting for me to figure out how to get it to that point. The part needs to fit "dry" before I can even attempt to put clecos in. Perhaps better questions would be:
It appears that the best and maybe the only way to do this is to remove all clecos aft of the F-01411 bulkhead and reassemble. Thoughts? |
I also remember having a hard time with this. I had to bend the side skins inward to eliminate the gaps, and IIRC the thick bottom skin had to be tweaked as well. Go slow and make sure all fits fairly well before riveting any part of it
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On mine, I took out some of the clecos from the side skins that were farther aft to be able to slide the aft bottom skin into place. I didn't initially think it was able to fit there, like others in this thread, but once it was all in place it fit like a glove the way Vans stuff just works when you put it together right.
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Try it without F-01411 installed first.
On my 8 in this area I had to open up the slots for the longerons slightly as the longeron was not sitting all the way down in the bulkhead slot and holding the skin out a little. |
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I literally *just* fought with this step yesterday! I was having the same issue with mine. I had to really fight to get everything to fit just right. You are correct in that the aft bottom skin goes above the forward bottom skin and that it also goes between the side skins and the stringers. I removed most of the clecos from the aft end and had to peel the side skins away from the frame, while sliding the aft bottom skin forward and then used a little mechanical agitation with my palm to force the piece into place. I started by sliding the port side along between the side skin and the stringers and then as I could, I peeled the starboard side skin away from the stringers to get it over the edge of the aft bottom skin until it all fit into place. It is a bit of a struggle but it does fit eventually.
You will also have to massage the bulkheads to get everything to line up correctly. And as has been mentioned above, cleco every hole that you can get lined up. Also, before you fit the piece into place, I had to break the side skin edges a little bit harder than normal to prevent a gap and as I started to rivet, it pulled the skins in together nicely. If I could ever figure out how to upload pictures into these replies, I would show you the results of my work yesterday. |
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