Brief Description: Began forward upper fuselage assembly
Considerable progress was made today in the shop. I began by riveting the nutplates on the instrument subpanels and then the attach flange and side clips. The instrument panel assembly was then fitted to the fuselage. This required some careful work with a Dremel grinding wheel and a file (slots in the subpanels had to be widened to fit over the longerons).
Once I was happy with the fit of the instrument panel, I clecoed the windscreen support in place and checked its fit. I used a wooden wedge to widen the support about 3/16" and shims on the forward two holes (both sides) to make the mounting flanges sit flush against the upper longerons. The largest shims were no more than 3/32" at their thickest point. The shims were actually wedge shaped since the inboard edges of the mounting flanges were almost touching the longerons while the outboard edge was gapped about 3/32". The aft four holes on both sides were sitting flush against the longerons. Overall, I think the shimming resulted in a good snug fit. All the mounting holes were drilled to #12 for the AN3 bolts. I will have to use longer bolts in the forward holes to allow for the shim thickness.
Last task for the day was to get the forward upper skin clecoed in place with all the reinforcing strips, braces, and spacer. The forward skin was then matched drilled to the underlying components and structure. The forward skin support ribs (F-8104) were also matched drilled to the skin.
First task for tomorrow will be to remove the skin, deburr all the components, dimple/countersink as required and then recleco everything back in place in preparation for fabricating the baggage door.
