Brought the forward fuselage side skins up from the basement today and prepped them for their initial fitting. Once the airframe was leveled in all aspects, I clamped each skin on to its respective side and did the following:
- Carefully aligned the factory-cut opening for the wing main spar with the main spar itself then clamped the rest of the skin to the upper longeron. - Re-checked for airframe level. - Traced the gear channel onto the inside of the attached skin. - Removed the skin and cut out a slot for the gear channel. - Reattached the skin then reattached the gear mount into the now-trimmed gear channel.
Both front skins are held loosely in place at the top longeron and snugly behind each main gear mount.
Right-front side skin clamped in place with the gear mount reattached to the trimmed gear channel.
A peek over the side into the now (loosely) enclosed cockpit.
The open-topped fuselage with all the side walls on for the first time.