Brief Description: Converted fuselage jig to 16' workbench
It occurred to me that additional table space would be very useful while assembling the various fuselage subassemblies. The prepunched kit is going together somewhat differently then the earlier non-punched version so I am not sure yet how useful the jig will be. For now, I decided to convert it to a temporary long workbench. I took the two sheets of plywood from the fuselage shipping crate and ripped them on the tablesaw to 32". I then added three 2x4 temporary crossmembers to the jig and fastened the plywood down with some drywall screws. One of the plywood sheets had to be shortened a bit with a circular saw. I now have almost 16' of additional table space (you can never have too much) that can be very quickly converted back to a jig if and when necessary.
After getting into the fuselage build process a little deeper it looks a bit like Boeing's approach to modern airliners. The RV-8 is built in multiple subassemblies (forward cabin, mid-cabin and seat rib subassembly, and the tailcone). Once the subassemblies are built they are joined and riveted together forming the fuselage "canoe". I think the long workbench is going to be perfect for this new process.
