Off to the center section! While I wait for my bucking bar buddy I started work on the center secton. For those of you wondering what the center section is, it could also be called the cockpit. It is kind of hard to imagine (I can but then I have seen the plans) but in the third photo is the skeletal structure for the seats. The gray primered bulkhead on the right is where the seat backs will rest against. The edge of the seat bottom will end at the beginning of the bulkhead on the left. Alright to the work completed. The first photo shows two items that needed to be completed. First, the lightening holes had to be made larger for the flight controls and to ensure the flight control tubes could be inserted two of the ribs had to be cut. The second photo shows the lightening hole enlargement a little better. You can see the second rib from the right has not be enlarged, but the third one for the right was. Back to the first photo you can see where I cut the top flange of the rib. Then a piece of aluminum was clecoed on to hold the rib back together. The instructions wants you to rivet the nut plates on to the ribs. The nut plates are used to hold the panels the seats sit on to the ribs. I have not decided if I will primer this part of the plane yet. I am leaning towards no. But I want to drill everything to size and get ready to rivet before I make a commitment one way or the other.
