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Assembling the forward fuselage |
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Well it's been a little bit since my last update but I have been making progress. I've now got the side fuselage skins trimmed to a final fit aside from over the flap and have begun assembling the forward fuselage. The firewall is now all squared up, my engine mount channels are all bent up and I've begun attaching the engine mount extrusions to the engine mount channels to start getting everything in it's final home. It takes a little while to get everything square, level and straight but it's not too horrible. I've got the top engine mounts/channels in place aside from getting drilled to the skin/stringers. Next step is to drill the lower mounts/channels and then I can start on the lower tunnel assembly and then bending the lower edge of the skins to their final home. After that it's dril drill drill, followed by deburring and dimpling and countersinking and then a bunch of rivet bucking! I'm still hoping to get the skins ready to rivet by about the end of February, and by the end of March I'd like to have it moved to the corner of the shop and making progress on the tailcone. I'm hoping to have it off the jig and on the gear near the end of June or July.
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Well I've finally made it to the point of being able to cut out the fuselage skins and have the firewall assembled. It's starting to really make it look like I'm making some progress and it's getting easier with each day to visualize an actual airplane being assembled. I've made the marks for the centerline on the floor and so the next step is to mark the horizontal reference line on the fuselage bulkheads and attach the top fuselage strings in place. After that I can clamp the fuselage skins in place and then make the engine mounts/forward formers so I can clamp in my firewall and get everything lined up. To see more images of the progress check out the Image Gallery!
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Getting back in the groove |
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After a long break I'm getting back into the swing of things. It's been a busy summer and as typical life happens! But it's been a summer of a lifetime. Getting married at the EAA museum, a road trip with my wife down historic Route 66 (by car, some day we'll return by plane!), a week at Oshkosh with friends and all the good company it brings plus all the usual yardwork etc so it's not all fun and games.
But now with the weather dipping down below freezing and the outside
yard work slowing to a slow crawl I've been able to get back to
building on the Mustang! I still intend to have it on wheels and
rolling around by spring time. First up on the list is to assemble the
firewall and as soon as that's done I'll be cutting my fuselage side
skins. That should make it feel like a lot of progress in a
(relatively) short amount of time!
The excitement is building! (no pun intended)
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