As of this evening, we no longer have an RV-3 fuselage in the jig – the canoe has been flipped, and is resting comfortably on the floor of the hangar, awaiting construction of an upright building cradle (of some sort). Two neighbors (a Rocket builder/owner and an RV-6A builder/owner) helped Louise and I pull the riveted structure out of the jig, with moral support from the Aviator Bear and a nice bottle of wine.
Inspector Bear checking the work before the flip:
Upright for the first time!
Bear is the first to try out the cockpit – he thinks the sills are a bit high, and wants an extra cushion – or two!
The longerons went in to the jig on the 22nd of November, according to the building log, and we have put 302 people-hours in to the fuselage column since then. It is actually quite amazing to me that we were able to produce this wonderfully-shaped assembly of aluminum from flat stock in such a short period of time – especially when you consider that the timeframe included at least a month when neither Louise or myself were in town. Measurements of the jig show that it is still in the same shape and position as it was the day we spotted it – we never did bolt it o the floor, but did have the floor marked carefully so that we could tell if it had moved, and could slide it back in to position after those occasional times when a good “whack” to something moved it slightly.
Per the construction manual, we have deferred riveting any of the rear skins to the longerons, leaving it all clecoed for fitting of the turtle deck. I waited until we flipped it to squeeze the forward skin-to-longerons rivets - much easier that way. We will probably do some interior work, such as fitting the seat pan, before beginning to work on the top skins. It will be nice to have it all on a roll-around rack (I am not ruling out a spindle/rotisserie mount) so that it is a bit more mobile in the hangar. But for now, we are going to relax and enjoy the Easter holiday and just stare at our “Quick Build” RV-3 Fuselage…..
For more pictures, take a look at our Picasa Page - new pictures are at the end: http://picasaweb.google.com/DrKarst/JUNIOR#
Paul and Louise
Inspector Bear checking the work before the flip:
Upright for the first time!
Bear is the first to try out the cockpit – he thinks the sills are a bit high, and wants an extra cushion – or two!
The longerons went in to the jig on the 22nd of November, according to the building log, and we have put 302 people-hours in to the fuselage column since then. It is actually quite amazing to me that we were able to produce this wonderfully-shaped assembly of aluminum from flat stock in such a short period of time – especially when you consider that the timeframe included at least a month when neither Louise or myself were in town. Measurements of the jig show that it is still in the same shape and position as it was the day we spotted it – we never did bolt it o the floor, but did have the floor marked carefully so that we could tell if it had moved, and could slide it back in to position after those occasional times when a good “whack” to something moved it slightly.
Per the construction manual, we have deferred riveting any of the rear skins to the longerons, leaving it all clecoed for fitting of the turtle deck. I waited until we flipped it to squeeze the forward skin-to-longerons rivets - much easier that way. We will probably do some interior work, such as fitting the seat pan, before beginning to work on the top skins. It will be nice to have it all on a roll-around rack (I am not ruling out a spindle/rotisserie mount) so that it is a bit more mobile in the hangar. But for now, we are going to relax and enjoy the Easter holiday and just stare at our “Quick Build” RV-3 Fuselage…..
For more pictures, take a look at our Picasa Page - new pictures are at the end: http://picasaweb.google.com/DrKarst/JUNIOR#
Paul and Louise
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