Fuselage Page 1 - in the jig
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Fuselage center section coming together... There are several pieces that have to be made from aluminum stock... | |
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I need to make the false spar that will install in the center section during the fuselage construction stages... | |
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I may actually have room for the fuse jig after all... | |
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Got the fuse jig all setup and level, and yes, that is a car in my hanger! |
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Center section is ready to go, it's not too bad to build really, plans are a little vague, but I looked at a lot of pictures on the Internet to help me out... |
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I decided to use the bolt method of spacing the center section that Sam Buchanan used. It worked out real good, you can adjust it to exactly what you need. I also installed the big close tolerance bolts to help hold it in alignment... |
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After reading over the manual again and talking with another -8A builder, I realized I needed to work on the center section a little more. The manual states that you must install the WD-821 landing gear weldments to the center section before you install it in the fuse to ensure a good fit. They fit good out of the box, but you do have to trim the bottom flange of the F-804F to allow the weldment to sit flat against the web... |
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The other thing I ran into was the holes called out on dwg 30A where the bolts go to hold the weldments on had rivets in them from when the center section was built. After talking with another builder, I determined that I had to drill the rivets out to accommodate the bolts. There were 14 rivets in all that I drilled out. I checked with Van's this morning on this and they told me I must have received an -8 center section because the -8A center section should not have had those rivets installed and drilling them out was the right thing to do. They also said I could have shipped it back to them, and they would have drilled them out for me... | |
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When you are prepping your wing center section, whether your building an -8 or -8A, you should drill all the holes you will need for rudder cables, wing wiring, and battery cables if your rear mounting your battery. It would be much tougher to do installed in the fuse. I got the wiring plans from Van's, and it has all the hole callouts on it... If your building an -8A, use dwg 11, view #1, and note the new location of the rudder cable holes... | |
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The firewall is pretty straight forward, you just have to be careful when countersinking the thin angle for riveting... |
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At left you can see all the fuselage bulkheads ready to go. At right the F-805 rear spar attach bulkhead. There are a bunch of parts that have to be made before the fuse construct can begin. -8A builders... Make sure you install the F-812OB step reinforcement on the F-807 bulkhead before you install it in the jig. |
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Seat rib assembly ready for riveting. This took me almost an entire weekend to complete. The plans also say if you are installing the manual aileron trim kit, you should do as much now as you can while it is easy to get to... |
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At left the F-814D angles mount to the aft side of the center spar section. At right you can see the front seat lap belt attach points and the rear seat fresh air vent mount. |
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Another view of the seat rib assembly, right rear with F-806FPP bulkhead attach gusset... | |