Lower aft fuselage fit

Looking aft at the last bulkhead (F-01412) in the tail.

I haven't run across this before, but I will trim this tab so it sits flat.



This is where the side skin overlaps the aft bottom skin. I did put a slight break in the side skin, but the gap is about .040. Is this normal or should I try to get a tighter joint? The joint between the side skin and the bottom skin is tight.

I had the same fit on mine. Riveting sucked the skin in nicely.

Shouldn't the side skins lay on the outside of the bottom skin?

That's how it is done on the older kits.

Also on the older kits, all the skins are laid out so any water runs down and aft. Thus the forward top skins lay on top of the lower aft skins.

N941WR said:

Shouldn't the side skins lay on the outside of the bottom skin?

That's how it is done on the older kits.

Also on the older kits, all the skins are laid out so any water runs down and aft. Thus the forward top skins lay on top of the lower aft skins.

Click to expand...

You are correct, in the picture the fuselage is on its side.

Have you guys been able to rivet the side skins solo? I was going to try to solo back rivet the flat areas using a steel plate on the bench.

I managed to put a dent in WITH a helper. I would recommend getting some help bucking. Once I got into a good rhythm with a helper we knocked out all the side skin rivets in about 5 hours.

Your skins are sitting down much better than mine. I fear that I may need to order a new skin. Mine is dimpled already. Bending it for a better fit has become a problem.

I found fairly early on that pre-punched/pre-formed etc doesn't really guarantee a perfect fit everywhere and so I've done a lot of minor bending by hand or with a seamer to get the parts fitting together as well as possible before riveting. Sometimes riveting seems to clinch things up nicely, but other times not so well.

The side skins definitely need to be bent inwards to match the aft bottom skin. Even after dimpling, a hand seamer will do a good job applied on either side of the dimples, or the bend can be made around a 1/4 in dowel or rod placed along the side of the dimples. If any dimples get distorted they can always be re-dimpled with a vise-grip dimpler

I managed to do all the aft fus solo, but it took a long time. I back-riveted almost everything except the parts around the stabilizer deck, including the top skin. Back riveting lets you reach in with the gun without having to use your other arm to buck.

The fus has to be positioned (blocked up) just right over the back-rivet plate, especially in the curved sections, which is what takes a lot of time. The positioning of the rivet head over the back plate should be checked with a feeler gage to make sure its making proper contact, etc...you can't be in a hurry.

Glad it's over


Jerry #140158

I used screw type clecos

Mine was gapped similarly. I used screw type clecos that pulled it much tighter. I also used my mushroom head set on my rivet gun (on low pressure) to lightly tap the edges. When I riveted, it all came together! See this blog post for details