Brief Description: Preparation for fuselage joining
Took care of a few more details before joining the front and aft fuselage halves. Stiffeners were added to the seat ribs by bending up some .040 stock and riveting as shown in image 1. I tried to dimple the 1/8 holes in the floor of the aft fuselage in the assembly fixture. However, dimpling in place requires the use of a rivet gun and bucking bar with a die in it. It is very difficult to get a good smooth dimple without distorting the bottom of the fuselage using this method. As a result, I opted to remove the aft fuselage from the fixture and use the Avery arm as shown in image 2. This resulted in very good quality dimples. Surprisingly, the whole aft fuselage with horizontal and vertical tails attached, was easily removed and carried to the floor without help. It is not heavy at all.