The fuselage is nearly complete, I just have the upper firewall and the rear bulkhead to rivet this coming weekend.
A lot of the time recently has been painting. Unlike the rest of the build so far, the fuselage is not hidden structure, so I have been deburring, then scuffing, then cleaning, then priming, then finish painting nearly all the parts.
The seat backs are complete, the roll over bar is complete, lower firewall completed and the fuselage all riveted together.
I have also fabricated the fuel lines and run the brake lines from the rudder and brake pedals.
The metalwork is nearly done, most of the rest of the project is finish work like controls and cables, wiring, plexiglass canopy and fiberglass fairings etc.
There's still a bit of metalwork left, like the fuel tank and some closeout panels, but not that much really.
Here's how a setup a jig for drilling the brake pedals:
Completed Rudder and Brakes:
Completed seat back (there's 2 of these)
Fueselage all ready to rivet:
Fuel shutoff valve:
Fuel and brake lines:
Gascolator with my first attempt at safety wiring:
Fuselage bottom skin riveted:
Here's a part not in the plans.
There are rollers that the wing spars ride on when you insert the removable wings.
Those rollers have a cutout in the fuselage floor so they don't bind.
That leaves a gap into the under floor area of the aircraft structure.
Now, no one has ever mentioned this being a problem, and the gap is fairly small.
It's also behind the setback and out of the way, however, Sods Law states that I will definitely drop my keys down that hole and never be able to get them back, that's just how life works.
So, I designed and fabricated a closeout tray to fit under that area. Now there's no gaps anywhere in the floor area (except for the control sticks, but they will have boot covers)
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