fuse assembly question

I am looking ahead a few weeks I would like to start on the fuse next while I save for wings .My question is how much can I do on the assembly of the fuse before having wings in hand "QB our Slow Assemble"because of spar spacing issue when mating wing to fuse. Thanks Jim

There are two issues that I see. One, the front to rear spar spacing is pretty critical and two, the spars must be match drilled to the center fuse bulkheads. I think you will need to have the center bulkheads drilled to the spars before you start on the fuse. Therefore you will need to pay for the wings and fuse at the same time because they match drill the bulkheads to the spar before they assemble the wings. The front to rear spar spacing is a different issue, and I can only speak for the QB wings because that is the path I chose. Assuming you order the wings and fuse at the same time, you can do nearly everything without the wings while the factory assembles the wings. However, there is a risk that the front to rear spar spacing will be incorrect. You have about a 1/8" window to work with (+ - 1/16") for front to rear spar spacing. I built my fuse to the plans and the wings fit perfectly when I got them. I can also tell you that I was very stressed about them fitting for the entire build. I rolled the dice and got lucky.

I did the firewall, bent the longerons and screwed them to the jig, positioned the seat back bulkhead and assembled the aft fuselage to the cleco stage. I also attached the completed firewall to the jig so I could use the fwd side skins to at least make sure they overlapped the rear side skins enouph. Don't drill the aft skins to the seatback bulkhead yet !

My fuse kit was short shipped the center section bulkheads, when I got the parts 2 months later I assembled the center section, seat ribs and seat back bulkhead seperately and used my QB wings to get the spacing right then positioned this assembly into my fuse jig and fit the skins . Note that others use a larger rear spar carry thru as the min.edge distance is difficult to meet.

Based on the experience of others with the rear lower skin being too short I reduced the length of the tailcone by 3/8 " to get adequate overlap between the long skin and the .040 aft skin. It barely made it. Don't forget the extra firewall gussets and my upper longerons needed a bit of an "S" bend to match the welded motor mount ears.
Rob's and Randy's sites have great info.
Mike

Fuse assembly

Thanks so much you guys I am going to order the fuse kit and save for the wings. By the time I am up to the point I need the wings I should have the funds in hand for wing QB deposit our thinking of wing kit ,but looks like a lot of assembly. I think vans said two months min for QB wing couple weeks less for kit. Thanks .Jim