Today was quite a unique collection of tasks. One tended to flow right into the other, so it really didn’t bother me too much to keep working and before I knew it, I had put in a solid 3 hours on the tailcone.
First things first, I went over every single hole on the entire tailcone and made sure that it had been match drilled per the instructions (minus the bulkhead ribs that are intentionally omitted at this point). This took a fair bit of time because you have to get used to having a drill in one hand and cleco pliers in the other. Pull cleco. Drill. Replace cleco. Move down the line. Forget where you are at. Curse the existence of many things. Calm down (enough). Repeat. It’s a pretty good rhythm.
At this point, I started realizing that having the tailcone that high up in the air wasn’t helping me out too much so I put out some old sawhorses and lowered it for easier access for the next couple of steps. The first of which involves fluting the tabs on the ribs that have two holes punched in them. I’ll admit that there were some parts previously that worked better when they were not fluted so I would intentionally not complete this step. This is not a bad thing at all as the fluting is not vital to the end result but rather a means to better alignment and a consistent good fit. This time the fluting was absolutely necessary to get the top skins fitted on.
Unlike some of the other skins that have factory made curves introduced to them, these top skins come flat and the curve is made by the builder clecoing them to the tailcone one piece at a time. It actually ended up being a pretty good fit after doing the fluting and I’m pleased with how it ended up. I haven’t drilled anything yet because there is still one more top skin to add, but by this point, the time had gotten away from me and I was pretty tired. I know I say this a lot, but I’m getting really excited about how this tailcone is coming together – it really has been a lot of fun doing something other than a control surface!
Total time today – 3 hours
Total time empennage – 150 hours
Total time aircraft – 150 hours