I started the morning opening up the holes for the antenna mounting hardware. I clecoed the antenna in place and it all fit very nicely. Next I drilled all of the rivet holes up to #30 and deburred all of the holes. I have to wait for my shipment to alodine the parts so they are on hold for now. I spent about 45 minutes looking at the various options I have for the transponder antenna, I want to wait for more ideas to flow in from VAF, for now I have only gotten a few replies.
I want to get the fuselage back on the rotisserie but I needed to smooth out a nick in the longeron that I put there with a bucking bar. I crawled in the fuselage after smoothing the area and gave it a shot of primer for corrosion protection. After getting the fuselage back on the rotisserie, I marked what is my top choice of location for the transponder antenna, I am no ready to put drill to metal.
With the fuselage rotated on its side I thought this was a good time to install the duct flange on the right side of the fuselage. The plans call for the hose that runs from the underside of the right wing to go all the way to the rear seat vent, but I want to be able to take the wing off without fishing out the hose. With the flange I can permanently install the interior hose run and hook up the wing part when ready. This will also seal up this hole so cold air can’t find its way inside the cockpit. I primed the mating areas of the flange and left it to dry overnight.
