[bruceh]

I'm ready to start riveting the forward side skins.

Should I leave off the F-920 armrests for now?
It looks like the F-704K upright cap strip needs to go on first, and that would be much later down the road in the build process. (how much later?)

Before I start riveting anything, should I pre-drill the cap strips to the F-904C/D forward and aft bulkheads? Looks like it would be much easier to do this without the side skins on.

 

[Greg Arehart]

Bruce,

It is relatively easy to drill the cap strip with the skins on, but wouldn't hurt to do it before.

Cap strip goes on later and is put on with pulled rivets so is easy to do after everything else. You are likely to want access to that area while wiring etc. and put the cap strip on last.

You may want to consider reinforcing the armrests with a piece of 3/4 x 3/4 x 1/16 or 1/8 angle or something similar. It's easy to lean on the armrests with your full weight and bend them without some sort of reinforcement.

cheers,
greg

 

[bruceh]

I did reinforce the armrests with some angle. The angle was eyeballed for length to match the armrest. The armrest and angle fits very tightly between the two bulkheads. Putting the cap strip over the forward bulkhead makes it even a tighter fit. So tight that I might have to do some trimming of the angle before everything will fit properly. I think I'm going to go ahead and match drill the cap strips now, then fit the armrest to fill the gap and then finally match drill the tab on the armrest to the F-904D aft center section. It doesn't appear that there is any reason right now to have to put in the armrests. I think it will be much easier to put the cap strip on before the armrest gets wedged in and riveted. I will wait until much later to finish attaching these permanently.

Here are the angles on the armrests.

All painted and ready to install.

 

[gasman]

The armrest is wider than needed. It can be cut in 1/2 the width of the back part and give you more usable elbow inches side to side. Cleco them in and sit in there and think about it.

Later if you want it wider, the make a cover from some thin plywood the width you want and bolt it on. Now is the time to think about it.