Removing the Fuselage from the Jig

Decide how you are going to support the fuselage once you take it out of the jig. One really handy way is to make bolt-on front legs. Make a couple of wood strips about 7 1/2" wide and 24" long, then drill them to bolt where the main spar goes but extending out about 8" outside the skin. Nail 29" legs to these and you will have your main longeron 45" off the floor when you turn the fuselage over. Make a skinny sawhorse for the rear. If you made the imitation wing for mounting -6A gear legs you can cut them down for this. These legs make it extremely unlikely that you knock the fuselage over accidentally.

Remove all the clamps and bolts holding the fuselage in, lift it off, and set it upright.

Assorted Small Steps

The following steps can be done in any order although it may be slightly better to take them in the order given; just check them off so you won’t miss any. Do all of them before moving on to the next section.

Check your kit to see if it includes 10 #8 nutplates of the type with only one ear but two mounting holes in it. If not, buy some from Van’s or elsewhere. More recent kits will include these to go at the end of the seat rib flanges where the forward seat panel joins the main seat panel.

If you are doing manual flaps obtain a #10 nutplate with one mounting ear with two mounting holes. You will need this for one of the bolts that attach the F-680 flap control hold-down block to the floor.

Check your kit to see if it includes two AN3-11 (drilled) bolts. If not, get from Van’s or elsewhere. More recent kits will already have these instead of AN3-14 bolts for attaching the lower end of the brake cylinders to the rudder pedal (revisions 1 and 4 of drawing #43a).

If you plan to install dual brakes, order that option now (although this is an option that you can easily add after the airplane is finished).

Make the F-636 shoulder harness anchors as shown in drawing #47. Drill them to the fuselage as shown in drawing #33. Leave them off for now.

Drill the F-695 gussets #30 to the top firewall stiffener. Rivet them on.

If you do not plan to send out the steel weldment parts for plating or painting, clean them thoroughly with Metal-Prep or a similar cleaner intended for steel. This will remove all shop oils, oxidation, and corrosion as well as leaving an etched surface that holds paint well. Dry them immediately after rinsing to prevent rusting. Drill the flange holes in the U-403 brake flange and drill this to the landing gear axle as shown in drawing #45 (this is already done in more recent kits). Put the U-403 in place on the axle and mask off the areas on the axle that fit tight inside the landing gear mounts as well as the axle threads. On the rudder pedal weldments grind off any excess welding bead where the WD-655A’s were welded to the main part of the assembly (drawing #43a) so that it will not interfere with brake pedal movement. Mask off the two ends of the manual flap control handle where they fit into the bearing blocks (if you have manual flaps). Mask the ends of the rudder pedal main bars where they fit into bearing blocks. Prime all the weldment parts, then paint them with a finish coat. You may also want to prime and paint the brake pedals.

Rivet the F-628 upright rib, the little piece of angle, and the baggage floor support angle to the F-606 bulkhead. You may need to use pop rivets on one area. Use the elevator bellcrank bolt as a guide to make sure the F-628 is the right distance from the horizontal rib (with the bolt through the ribs and one washer on it, the cotter key hole in the bolt should come about in the middle of the castellated nut slots. Drill the bottom of the F-628 to the bottom skin, dimple, and rivet.

Make the F-635 Bellcrank assembly shown on drawing #47. You should find two pieces of 1/2" wide 0.063 material 18" long in your kit; cut one spacer from each of these.

Make the spacers that go on the elevator bellcrank bolt as shown in drawing #32, then assemble the bellcrank and spacers to the ribs. Make sure you understand which type of bearing you have so you will know what hardware to use. If you have an older kit with the type in which a fixed bushing rotates against the mounting bolt (one type of VA-126), you must use a drilled bolt and castellated nut. All other bearings can be used either with the drilled bolt and castellated nut or a plain bolt and nylon-insert locknut because the inside of the bearing does not turn on the bolt. Recent kits have the VA-146 which has a machined aluminum case holding a ball bearing insert; you must use large washers with a small hole next to the bearing to prevent the bellcrank from sliding sideways on the spacers if the bearing wears out. This could jam the elevator. Earlier versions of bearings use a more conventional size washer (except the VA-126 described above) for the same purpose. If you have the drilled bolt and castellated nut, put the bolt in from the left side; the cotter key will be easier to reach on the right side. Drop the key in the hole in the bolt but do not bend it. Write a note to yourself on the forward side of the forward flange of the upright rib to "check the cotter key"; that way you will see the note as you try to put the back of the baggage compartment on. If you have a nylon-insert locknut, do not not tighten it and change your note accordingly.

Make the F-604E caps for the insides of the uprights on the F-604 bulkhead as shown in drawing #31 section H-H’. The channel pieces in the kit have some extra length so you don’t have to be precise in locating the cut in the sides where you will bend it. Make sure they do not go down so far that the wing spars will hit them going in; the tops are trimmed off even with the tops of the other parts of the bulkhead. Drill them #30 but don’t rivet them on.

Mark on the side skin the location of the center of the big angle that is attached to the top of the F-610 bulkhead for future reference in attaching the horizontal stabilizer.

Make the gussets that brace the F-606 and F-607 bulkheads to the main longeron as shown in drawing #32 detail E out of the material that you trimmed off of the baggage/seat area bottom skins and rivet them on. Be sure to make two right side and two left side ones.

Install the rudder cables. If you did not use the Avery or similar tight fairing over the rudder cable exit holes in the side skins you must install a P-clamp just aft of F-610 as shown in the drawing to hold the tubing in place. A screw is put through the skin and the clamp and a nutplate is used as a locknut (it is not mounted to anything). Feed the rudder cable small (not the forked) end in through the slot and on through the F-610. Slip a plastic bushing over the end flange-last, then push the bushing into the hole in F610. Continue forward this way, including using a bushing on both sides of the F-604 (main spar) bulkhead, all the way through F-602. Make sure you go through the right set of holes in F-608 (the bottom ones) and you don’t bypass F-624. If you have trouble getting the cable end through the bushings, or if you want to make it possible to later remove and replace the rudder cable without pulling the bushings out of the bulkheads, you can file notches on the insides of the bushings. Position the plastic tubing in the slot and install the fairing (and clamp if required). A short piece of the tubing should remain on the outside so you can always tell it is still in place.

Prepare the baggage compartment rear panels as follows: Cleco on the F-650 rear baggage compartment sides. Push the rear end of them outward toward the side skins as far as they will go and tape the flanges to F-606 bulkhead. Trim the lower baggage compartment rear panel F-651 if necessary to fit properly against the F-606 bulkhead. Put a temporary spacer of .025 or .032" thick scrap between it and the baggage floor support angle on the F-606. Drill the rear panel #30 to the bulkhead (but not the floor support angle) as indicated in drawing #37. Mark some points 3/4" below the top of the panel on its forward surface. Put the top section of the baggage compartment rear panel on with its bottom edge aligned with these marks and drill it to the bulkhead. On the back side of the top panel mark where the top of the bottom panel hits it. Remove the panels. Make the slots and mount the pieces of plastic (UHMW) from bag #F-6114 for the shoulder harness cables. Drill out the panel mounting holes for #8 screws and mount nutplates for them on the F-606 bulkhead. Drill two more holes #30 in each side panel rear flange to attach it to the bulkhead; dimple these holes. Remove the temporary spacers.

Install an airspeed static system as indicated in SK-61 if you want to get accurate airspeed indications. The easiest way is to buy the optional kit from Van’s. Make sure you tie the tubing and the Tee securely to the structure in such a way that vibration can never make the tubing come loose. Roughen the surface of the barrel of the pop rivets before you set them so the tubing will stick better. Put several layers of RTV around the tubing and the pop rivet over several days to insure that it will stay. Drill holes in the longeron for tie-wrapping the tubing that goes forward in the area where top skins will go later; do not install the ties until after the top skin is riveted on. Drill holes for the tubing in the F-606 bulkhead and the F-624 rib about an inch below the longeron and feed the tubing through it; use RTV at these holes to prevent chafing of the tubing. You can go farther forward with this later when your canopy installation is done.

Brake Pedals

Make the brake pedals as shown in drawing #43a. Most of the parts are in plastic bag F-654P. Make sure the pedal blank is no more than 5" wide at the lower end (revision 3 of the drawing) or the finished pedal won’t fit in the rudder pedal weldment. If you follow the plans exactly the brake pedals in their rest position may not lean forward enough (you would have to pull up the toe ends of your feet to keep from applying the brakes). If you can, sit in a finished RV and see if it feels right to you. If it doesn’t, you can modify (grind) the F-6117A brake side plate by changing the 1 1/4" dimension to 1 1/2" and moving the position of the plate downward on the pedal by the same 1/4"; this will move the rest position of the pedal tops toward the front by about 1". If possible you should try the pedal position before completing their assembly. Build up the pedals as described but do not drill the side plates; make temporary ones out of the thickest scrap you can until you get what you like, then drill and rivet the real side plate to match. Be aware that one rudder pedal sits behind the other so the angle of the two pedals will look different from each other until everything is mounted in the airplane. You can also vary the pedal angle to some extent when you set up the rudder by changing the length of the link that attaches the rudder pedal to the rudder cable, but if you are over about 6 feet tall the pedals will be too close to you even with the seat back all the way back. Another trick for later would be to build up the rudder bars below the pedals with some kind of rigid rubber pads such as automotive heater hose; this also avoids the problem of your feet wearing the paint off the pedals. If doing either of these makes the pedal too close to you, try moving the pedal mounting blocks forward by up to one inch.

Battery Box

Make the battery box components as shown in drawing #48a. This drawing is very easy to understand but some dimensions are not given. These are not critical so just scale off the drawing. The location of the hold-down angle on the inside of the box near the top is located using an actual battery, so put this off until you have one. Notice that the F-6120A base is made with a slight tilt. It is installed so that the larger end is toward the rear of the aircraft. Drill the F-6120B to the firewall and put the 3/16" nutplates on it, but do not leave it bolted to the firewall. Rather than trying to locate and drill the base for attachment to the floorboard, leave this until you have installed the floorboard later; it will not be that much more difficult to do and it may actually take less time and be more accurate. A good way to handle the hinge pin retention is as follows: Cut the two side pins about 9" long and then bend about 1/2" of one end to 90 degrees. Put these in with the bend toward the rear. Cut the rear pin about 8" long, bend about 1/4" of one end to 90 degrees, and put it in place with the bend on the right side of the box. Push the side pins back until they hit the rear pin and then cut off the excess even with the forward end of the base. Drill a 1/8" hole in the base at the right edge for the bent down part of the rear pin to drop into, then trim off the bent end until it is fairly easy for you to lift it out of the hole for removal. Now the rear pin is held in place and it holds the other two, and you don’t need tools to remove the battery cover.

F-614 Aft Deck and F-609 Bulkhead

Make the round and rectangular cutouts on the F-614 Aft Deck as shown in drawing #28. the 5" hole can be slightly smaller if your circle cutter won’t reach that far. Also trim a little triangle off the ends of the flange so they won’t hit the top skin later. Mark the position of the F-609 bulkhead web on the main longerons as shown in drawing #22. Verify that when placed on these marks the outside of the flanges of the F-609 line up with the outside of the side skins; move the F-609 fore or aft as necessary to make sure there will be no jog in the top skin when it is put on. Measure from the F609 position back to the horizontal stabilizer attachment uprights and transfer this measurement to the F-614 to mark the cutouts for the uprights. After cutting out these openings insure that the F-614 rear deck lines up with the fuselage. Clamp the F-614 to the F-609 and drill them #30 as shown in drawing #34. Rivet these together.

Make the long 1/8" thick spacer that goes on top of the angle that is attached to the F-610 bulkhead and underneath the rear deck as shown in section D-D’ of drawing #34. Note that it is shown short enough that it does not fit snugly against the longerons; cut it that way and there will be enough material left in the strip provided to make the two 1 x 2 x 1/8" spacers that go on top of the aft deck in the same area. Make these spacers and set aside for later use. Tape the long spacer in place on the angle on F-610.

There is most likely a twist in the fuselage that must now be eliminated. Verify that the fuselage is level across the main longerons just aft of the main spar bulkhead. Place the F-614-F-609 assembly on the fuselage with the forward end aligned precisely; clamp it to the main longeron on just one side. Place a level across the main longerons just forward of this; grasp the rear of the fuselage and twist it until the longerons are level, then clamp the rear deck at other points to the main longerons. Verify that the rear bulkhead F-612 is now exactly vertical. Drill the rear deck #30 to the fuselage as shown in drawing #34. Do not drill any rivet holes in the area of the F-610 bulkhead as bolts will go here later to attach the horizontal stabilizer. Drill the rear deck to the long spacer and angle on F-610; note that there are no rivets any closer than about 2 1/2 inches from the side skins. Clean, prime, and rivet on the rear deck.

Baggage Floor Panels

Drawing #37 shows the floor panels. With the baggage compartment lower rear panel and the F-649 and F-650 side panels in place, mark the positions of the edges of the flanges of the two innermost baggage floor ribs on the forward edge of F-605 and on the baggage compartment rear panel just above its bottom flange. Also mark the centerlines of the other four floor rib flanges.

Trim the floor panels F-647 like you trim carpet: Place one of the 23" x 17 1/8" rectangular pieces of 0.025 material on the floor ribs with its rear edge against the compartment rear panel and its rear outside corner over against the F-650 side panel. Mark and trim the panel if necessary so it does not overhang the F-605 bulhead front edge and you can see the locator marks you put on it. Put the panel back and align it this time so that it overhangs the marks for the inside edge of the inner floor ribs an equal amount at the front and rear edge. Mark points this distance inward from the side at several points on the panel. Trim the panel a little oversize using these points as a guide, then put it back in place and do a final trim.

Drill this panel #30 to two floor ribs but not the innermost rib along the panel edge. Also drill it to the compartment side panels. Drill the compartment rear panel through the floor panel and the bulkhead. Do not drill along the forward edge at F-605.

Repeat for the other floor panel.

Make the center floor panel F-648 out of the 4" wide 0.025" material as follows: Mark points on the main floor panels to show where to place the center panel so it will align properly with the innermost floor ribs. Butt the rear edge of this panel up aginst the forward edge of the bottom flange on the compartment rear panel rather than forcing it under; mark and trim the front edge even with the front of the F-605 bulkhead.

Secure the inner edges of the floor panel to the ribs there so the ribs won’t shift as you drill screw holes. Drill the center panel #30 to the floor panels and ribs. If you are going to use manual flaps, do not drill the forward hole on the left side next to the F-605 bulkhead; the flap handle bearing block will attach here later with bolts (see drawing #40). If you are doing electric flaps, look at the supplemental instructions provided with that option to see where its cover screws attach; do not drill any holes in those areas.

Seat Floor Panels (Main)

To avoid problems in alignment and drilling of the pre-bent seat panels the tops of the ribs in this area must be carefully aligned and held in place. The fuselage sides may have a slightly different curve so they do not make a good reference for this. Rather than forcing each rib straight with its own stiffener you can use a stiffener on just the inner two ribs and then use heavy tape and thin strips of aluminum crossways to hold the other ribs to be straight. Mark the positions of the center of the rib flanges back onto the baggage floor panels.

Carefully trim the F-642 seat floor panels using measurements from the center ribs for the outer sides and from the center ribs and the notch in the seat rib flange where the rib (and the floor panel) turns upward to trim out for the F-605 bulkhead upright.

Mark the positions of the seatback hinges on the panels as shown in drawing #38. Drill the seat panels #30 to the ribs (avoiding the hinge locations) except along the forward (turned-up) edges and the inner edge ribs.

Trim and drill #30 the seat area center panel to the center ribs. If you are going to install manual flaps, leave out the two holes that would be about 8"forward from the F-605 bulkhead and the one on the left side which would be close to the F-605; the flap handle anchor and bearing block will attach in these areas later with bolts and nutplates (see drawing #40) and this will hold the plate down. For the electric flap option do not put in any screws where the cover will go.

The only adjustment in the RV seats to compensate for different pilot heights is to move the seat back between one of three positions. Unfortunately moving the seat back also means you have to be rather creative with seat cushions since they cannot also move forward or backward. An alternative is to set up the seat back only for the rear-most position and use extra seat and back pads for shorter pilots. Using drawing #38 cut the six hinges (or just two as mentioned above) used to hold the seat backs to the floor panels. The hinges are cut to 16" long and then the tail is cut off to make them 15 1/2". Note that you are making six half hinges, not six full hinges; pull out the pin and cut four pieces out of one side of a 6-foot piece of hinge and the other two out of the other side. Remove two eyes in the center of each hinge. Drill these hinges #30 (or #40 for 3/32" rivets; the 1/8" rivets tend to distort the hinges slightly and are overkill for this application) to the floor panels making sure you avoid where the floor ribs will be; the inner end of the hinges should be just about 1/4" away from the edge of the center panel.

Seat Floor Panels (Forward)

There was an inconsistency in drawing #37 depicting how things are at the forward end of these panels and revisions made later that were not completely correct. The shallow-angle bends in the F-639 and F-640 panels in the kit are such that when the panels fit properly onto the seat ribs their forward edge flanges just overhang the front of the wing spar; the wing spar is just under 1 1/4" thick. Keep this in mind when you are making the cutouts to clear the F-604 bulkhead sides. These cutouts will extend about 1 1/2" back from the forward edge of the panels AFTER THE FRONT EDGE IS BENT DOWN (which it is already as the panels come from Van’s). The forward edge flange must be trimmed later to clear some of the spar bolt heads (and the landing gear mount if RV-6A). The dimensions for the cutouts and trimming of these panels are not close enough to be usable, so trim and try.

Make the cutouts in the F-604 bulkhead flange to allow the control sticks to go all the way forward. The flange will need to be cut away right into the bend. This cutout is not at present shown explicitly in the drawings but can be inferred from the location of the cutouts in the F-639 and F-640 panels. Use the photograph in the construction manual that shows the control sticks as a guide and this will be accurate enough. It can be enlarged later if necessary.

Using the left center rib as a measurement reference trim the side edge of the shorter F-640 forward seat panel to match the fuselage side and to just clear the F-604 bulhead upright (the F-604E bulkhead cap should be in place for this). The rear edge of the forward down-turned part of the F-640 must be just over the thickness of the spar away from the forward edge of the F-604 bulkhead (1 1/4" will work for this). The revision in February 1995 (and again in June) of the 2 1/2" dimension to 1 1/2" for the distance back from the forward edge of the panel to the rear of the cutout for the F-604 bulkhead upright is correct. Do not cut the openings for the control stick yet. Trim the rear edge of the panel if necessary so it will fit down on the ribs.

Drill #30 the panel to the sloping part of the ribs (except the inner one) and the main seat panels for the screw holes, and don’t forget that you cut the flange off of part of two of the ribs and cut two chunks out of the F-604 bulkhead flange. The holes that go on the forward edge of the panel must be located very precisely if you hope to be able to later mount the nutplates there properly. In fact, you will at best have to violate edge distance in the rib flange for the forward rivet hole for mounting the nutplate. You may instead drill only to the F-604 bulkhead flange but next to the ribs. Be careful to drill as close to the edge of the flanges of the ribs next to the side skins as you can; otherwise you will not be able to get your squeezer in there to dimple and rivet.

Trim the F-639 forward seat panel. Put the center panel in place with its forward edge on top of the F-639 and drill them to the ribs and bulkhead including where they overlap the F-640 panel.

Remove all the floor panels. Deburr, clean, and prime everything.

Install nutplates on the bottom flanges of the F-649 side panels, the baggage floor support angle on F-606, the two inner ribs in the seat and baggage areas, and on the ribs and bulkhead flange where the forward seat panels sit.. The 10 nutplates with only one mounting ear go on the seat area ribs just forward of where the ribs turn upward. Rivet the seat back attach hinges to the seat floor panels.

Cleco the baggage and main seat panels but not the center panels in place.

Seat Backs

Make the seat backs as shown in drawing #38. Note that the vertical stiffeners are on the front side rather than the back as you might expect. The only unusual thing about this drawing is that in different views it depicts the placement of the bottom hinge differently. I suggest locating it on the back side of the seat, against the seat back, and under the stiffener angle. If you place it on the front side of the seat back you would have to either notch the side stiffeners to clear them or else cut the hinges off and lose an eye or two. You may also notice that the seat back brace requires AN470AD3-4 rivets but you didn’t get any in the kit. If you can’t get some easily use flush rivets instead; just dimple the hinge and the seat back or brace together to minimize distortion of the hinge.

Make the side stiffener angles to the drawing length first, then drill them to the seat backs with the their tops even with the seat back tops. While still clecoed together mark the seat back bottom ends for trimming to match the stiffeners, then trim them.

Make the rest of the seat back pieces including the brace. Note that the seat backs are mirror images of each other only in the way the hinge eyes at the bottom are located. The drawing shows the left seat back; the side with the hinge eye right at the edge goes toward the center of the fuselage. Make one the way the drawing shows and one with a hinge eye at the edge on the other side. Later, you can see which seat back fits best on which side. When you clamp the seat back, bottom stiffener, and hinge together for drilling, put the hinge on the outside to be sure you get the holes in the middle of it.

Deburr, clean, and prime the seat back and brace pieces and rivet them all together. Cut hinge pins to hold the brace to the seat back. This pin wil probably never need to be removed so you can make it undersized and just pinch the end hinge eyes closed after you put it in. Otherwise you could drill small holes in the end eyes for safety wire to hold the pins in.

Put the seat backs in place in the fuselage; if you have them on the proper side the inner hinge eye on the seat back will overhang the hinge on the floor. Mark and cut out one hinge eye on each seat back between the two that you cut out on the floor hinge. Pinch or safety wire the end eye closed on the floor hinges next to the sides and on the seats next to the center of the fuselage. Make the four hinge pins a little longer than necessary to reach from the seat edge to the center, then bend up about 1/4" at one end. If necessary, trim the pins so that when they are fully inserted they will about touch each other but not overlap. Taper and polish the straight ends. Now you can slide the hinge pins in and out from the center to adjust the seat location, and they will stay in place by themselves.

With the seat backs in place as a location guide make the angle and strips that form the slots for the seat back brace stops. Note that the angle goes all the way across but there are individual strips for each seat. Deburr, clean, and prime them but do not rivet them on yet. Remove the seat backs.

Manual Flap Control Mounting

The following instructions are specific to the manual flaps; different steps are required for the electric flaps because the control rod mounts behind the F-605 bulkhead rather than in front of it. Van’s supplys additional instructions for the electric flaps.

Verify that the flap bearing blocks F-661 (the ones that go on the ends of the main rod) are the proper size according to drawing #42. Two dimensions are important; the 3/4" from the large hole center to the bulkhead the block bolts to, and 1" to the bottom surface which sits on the seat area floor. Drill the bolt holes in these blocks and the F-680 center block. Saw the F-680 block in half as shown.

Smooth the ends of the flap control rod, slide the bearing blocks on them (they should fit just a little tight), and put this assembly in place and use it to mark the bolt holes in the bulkhead. Drill these holes 3/16".

Put the assembly back in place held with bolts to the bulkhead, with half of the F-680 center block under it large end rearward, right over the left-center floor rib flange. Align the bolt holes in the center block with the center of the flanges of the floor ribs and mark the outline of the block on the seat skin. Put the two center floor panels in place, align the F-680 block with the marks on the seat area skin, and mark the bolt holes in the F-680 onto the center panel. Slide the block out of the way and drill the marked holes 3/16" through the panels and the ribs.

Seat Back Brace (Manual Flaps Only)

The electric flap option has the seat back braced in a somewhat different fashion.

Shape the seat back brace F-685A as shown in drawing #47. Make the F-685B plate out of scrap material.

Put the F-685B plate under the rear end of the F-680 center block. Cleco the seat back stop angle onto the bulkhead. Trim the F-685A seat back brace to the proper length and shape at the bottom end to fit properly. The top should be just below the top of the seat back stop angle. Drill the F-685B plate to the F-685A brace. Mark the F-685B plate through the bolt hole in the center block and drill the plate 3/16". Put a bolt in the plate to hold it and drill #30 the top of the brace to the bulkhead top and angle. Remove the angle from the bulkhead top and drill the new holes 3/16". Mount nutplates behind the holes in the bulkhead, drilling them out to 7/32" in the process.

Remove the center floor panels and the left floor panels. Mount #10 nutplates to the center ribs for the block bolts. You will probably need to use a nutplate with two mounting holes on one ear for the rear bolt hole. Put bolts through the blocks and make sure both of them will start into the nutplates; the rear one may be at too odd an angle with respect to the direction the bolt is coming at it and you will need to tilt it slightly by screwing in a bolt and using it for a lever.

Put all the floor panels back in. Taper the floor side of the F-685B plate so that the center block will sit fairly flat on it and the floor panels. With the seat back brace in place under the center block the flap control rod should sit lightly on the center block. If the block is too thick shave it down or try the other half of the block.

Deburr, clean, and prime. Rivet the F-685B plate to the brace. You can now rivet on the angle and strips that form the slots for the seatback brace stops.

Flap Handle and Anchor (Manual Flaps Only)

Using drawing #42 fabricate the F-658B plate and F-658C angles per the dimensions. Cut out the F-658A flap anchor full scale drawing and use that as a template.

Cut the slot in the Wd-613 flap handle weldment using the drawing dimensions; make the slot no longer than shown, and maybe a little narrower to start. A fast method for cutting the slot is to drill the end holes all the way through and then cut the slots with a 2-inch Dremel-style fiber-reinforced cutoff wheel.

Make the F-660 bracket by trimming the metal strip supplied to match the drawing, then make the shallow bends at the ends, then make the sharp bend in the middle by squeezing it around a 1/8" drill bit held in your drill press. Drill the 3/16" hole, then drill and rivet the bracket to the F-660 tube. Install the bolt in the bracket.

Put the flap control back in the fuselage, and using the pieces of the anchor determine where on the plate the anchor should be located so it lines up with the handle slot. Drill #30 and rivet the angles to the plate. Put the anchor between the angles, wedged in with pieces of paper if necessary so it will stay where you put it. Put the anchor assembly back in the fuselage and move the flap handle up and down on it to locate the proper angle for the anchor on the plate. Drill the anchor #30 to the angles and rivet. Drill the two bolt holes 3/16" in the plate and drill these to the center panel, floor panels, and seat ribs. Mount 3/16" nutplates to the ribs.

Make the rest of the flap handle as shown. Taper one end of the wooden handle plug so that it will go all the way to the bottom of the handle; it is tapered enough by listening to it hit the bottom as you drop it in, and it doesn’t stick in the handle. To get the right length on the F-660 tube, put everything in the fuselage (put the F-660 in the flap handle, push on the end of it so the opening in it lines up with the handle slot, slip the anchor into the slot, and bolt down the anchor) then trim the F-660 tube so that with the VA-110 knob on it you can release the latch but the lower ring on the knob does not come out of the flap handle tube. Secure the knob to the tube by drilling a hole through both in the bottom half of the knob and put a cotter key or safety wire in it; you may want to change knobs later.

There may be a problem for you with the design of the knob in that as you push it down with your thumb it will catch a fold of skin between the steel tube and the underside of the knob tip. One fix is to grind off the top flange of the knob so that it is a much smaller diameter than the inside of the tube; another is to just fill the grove in the knob out to the inner diameter of the tube.

Electric Flaps

If you are building electric flaps, build up the control and bracing for them now.

Some builders have had an interference problem due to tolerance buildup. To avoid this you need to understand the interference and test for it early. The error is interference of the canopy latch cross-rod with the EF-604 floor-to-bulkhead-top channel that holds the electric flap actuator motor. This cross rod is the 3/4 inch diam. steel tube that is centered 3.063 inches below the longerons and 0.5 inches ahead of bulkhead F-605. This is part of the finishing kit rather than the fuselage kit, so you may not have it at this point. If so, delay doing this section until you have the finishing kit. The usual build sequence is to install the flap mechanism and later install the canopy latch. This hides the problem until you are past the point where easier fixes are possible. It is easier to alter the flap mechanism than the canopy latch rod location. Moving the canopy latch cross rod is tricky, since the seats backs (in their usual rear-most position) will interfere if it's moved forward or up too much. Other fixes might involve modifying the canopy latch cross-rod with shorter "latch fingers", making the cross-rod's diameter smaller, or cutting away the EF-604 channel (this would look ugly though). The easiest fix is to move the top of the EF-604 channel rearward where it attaches to the center of the F-605 upper crosspiece (F-605F). This might cause another problem since the end of the flap control arm may hit this EF-604 channel near the mid-point of the flap motion, so multiple changes may be required.

The best way to handle this problem is to temporarily put everything in place and check for the interference. Clamp the EF-604 channel and the canopy latch cross-rod in their standard position and see if the rod hits the channel. If so, move the top of the channel back until the rod no longer hits it, then put the flap control arm in place to make sure it doesn’t hit the channel. If this does not work, try moving the cross-rod forward, but then check to be sure it won’t hit the seatback. If this doesn’t work, try moving the cross-rod upward and plan on having to modify the latch mechanism later.

Flap Control Link Rods

Make the flap control link to the dimensions on the drawing (#42 for manual flaps). On mine the proper length of the tubing turned out to be 2 1/4" and could have been as short as 2" but you cannot determine this exactly until you mate the wings to the fuselage. The piece of tubing supplied with the kit is long enough that you will have some left over. Practice tapping this piece before trying it on the pieces that are cut to length. Use a lot of pressure as you start to keep the tap from tearing up the inside of the tube instead of making clean threads. You may have to drill out the inside of the tubing a little so it will tap properly. Use a very light oil as you go, and back the tap out a little way fairly often to keep the friction down. You might choose to cut the tubing longer and only tap one end at this time.

Clean and prime the tubes. Put the proper rod end bearings and other hardware together with the tubes and set them aside.

Pull out the flap control and set it aside along with all the hardware that will be used to mount it later. See drawing #40 for any hardware not shown on drawing #42.

Floor Panel Riveting

After the flap controls (and the steps if used) are mounted you can rivet the baggage compartment rear side panels and all the floor panels to the fuselage; use #3 flush rivets in the small holes in the floor panels along the inner ribs.

It is a good idea to make some plywood covers to protect the floors as you will be going in and out of the cabin area a lot.

Cabin Frame (Tip-up Canopy Only)

Make the cabin frame as shown in drawing #39 and attach it to the fuselage. (No details on this; I haven’t built one but it looks like lots of fun.) Rivet the F-605 bulkhead to the main longeron and the F-657 gusset as soon as you understand how the other components in this area attach.

J-Channels and Rear Top Skin F675

Drill small pilot holes for all the holes (not just reference holes) in the F-606, F-607 and F608 bulkhead flanges. If you start at the top and work down you should be able to get the required spacing everywhere except for the two holes at the top. Mark on the rear side of the F-609 where the flange notches are so you can see them after the skin is put on. Mark a line down on to the side skins to show you where the side skin to main longeron rivets are after you put the top skin in place; also mark where the bulkhead flanges are so you won’t hit them later with new rivets.

Straighten the F-606, F-607, F-608, and F-609 bulkheads by fluting the flanges and attaching temporary stiffener strips. Brace the F-609 rear-most bulkhead to be vertical; pieces of tape run from its sides down to the side skins will work. Cut the remaining J-channel in half and use the pieces and some other straight strips to align the four bulkhead edges with each other and vertical. Trim the J-channels to fit the bulkheads F-606, F-607, and F-608 and drill them #41.

Trim and bend the top rib F-687 to make it fit between the F-606 and F-607 bulkheads as shown in drawing #32; you will probably need to use a piece of angle to attach it to F-607. Drill #41 the F-688 top triangle to F-606 and and F-687 with the proper spacing, then drill three more, one at each corner, between the others. Dimple all these holes in the triangle and the skeleton. Rivet the triangle in place at the three extra holes only.

Mark the center points on the front and rear edge of the rear top skin F-675. Lay the skin centered on the bulkhead top centers with the forward edge at the top even with the flange of the F-607 bulkhead. Pull down the skin over the bulkheads with straps around the fuselage. Make sure you have the same amount of overlap of the side skins along both sides. Slide blocks of wood under the straps at the top and along the sides to force the skin down on the bulkheads.

Drill the skin to the center and rear bulkheads #40, starting with the center bulkhead F-608 (with the pilot holes you should be able to drill by reaching in rather than climbing in), then lagging behind a little drill to the rear bulkhead and clamp only to the forward bulkhead. Then drill along the sides into the main longerons starting at the center bulkhead. Drill to the J-channels by drilling one hole at each end from the inside and using these as a guide to drill the rest from the outside.

Mark the end bulkhead outlines on the skin, then remove the skin and trim along these lines. Deburr the skin and fuselage holes. Cleco the skin back on the fuselage. Mark a point at the front end of the skin on both sides at the main longerons even with the web of the F-607 so you will be able to locate the rear edge of the other top skin. Also extend the skin centerline mark at the top down several inches to help center the other top skin.

Aft Top Skin F-674 (Tip-Up Canopy Only)

Trim the forward edge but not the rear edge of the top skin F-674 as shown in drawing #36 but leaving about 1" extra to be trimmed to fit the canopy later. Make a mark at the center of this skin at the rear edge. Strap this skin down with its rear edge even with the mark on the other skin and properly centered. Drill it to the F-687 top rib, then the F-688 triangle, then to the F-606 and F-607 bulkheads simultaneously starting at the top. Drill to the main longerons between F-606 and F-607, then drill forward from F-606 all the way to the F-605 bulkhead but not beyond the cabin frame forward edge. Drill to the J-channels.

Remove the skin, trim the rear edge about 1/2" aft of the line of rivet holes, dimple the skin, and slightly flange the edges. This skin will have to be flanged a little more aggressively than others were previously in order to make it lay flat without gaps against other skins after riveting. Round off the skin edges along the side and rear.

Aft Top Skin F-6112 (Sliding Canopy Only)

Some of the SC drawings show this skin as F-674 incorrectly. Drawing #36 shows a big U-shaped cutout at the forward edge of this skin; the dimensions given are for a tip-up canopy. There is no such drawing for the slider, but if you look at drawing SC-4 you will see that the skin in this area is trimmed a little differently and does not go as far forward. It is not necessary to trim the skin at this time; since it is shorter than the skin used for the tip-up canopy it can be formed to the bulkheads more easily. Strap this skin down with its rear corners even with the marks you made on the side skins and properly centered. Drill it to the F-687 top rib, then the F-688 triangle, then to the F-606 and F-607 bulkheads simultaneously starting at the top. Drill along the main longerons between F-606 and F-607, then drill forward from F-606 to a point just forward of the F-624 side rib. Drill to the J-channels.

Riveting the Rear Top Skin

Dimple the rear top skin and flange the edges. This skin will also have to be flanged a little more aggressively than others were. Round off the skin edges along the sides.

Dimple all the holes in the fuselage skeleton and countersink along the main longerons.

Install any wiring and cables you can at this point. If you have the manual elevator trim install the bushings first and then thread the control cable through starting at the F-604 bulkhead; it goes through the hole that is offset to the left of center. You must then cut out the corresponding hole in the left wing spar to the end of the spar so the wing can be taken on and off without removing the cable. If you plan to put in any cables or wires to the rear (electric trim, rear strobe or position light, VOR antenna) cut holes through the bulkheads for them and drill 5/32" holes in the main longerons for #6 screws to hold cable clamps. You can put the cables in place now with the clamps on the top side of the main longeron and still be able to drive the topskin rivets.

Rivet on the rear-most top skin F-675 but not the aft top skin F-674 or F-6112.

Bolt on the shoulder harness attach bracket/cable assemblies. Thread any wires through this area that you can and clamp them down (this can be done later with slightly more trouble). Clamp the static air line if present.

Mounting the Horizontal Stabilizer

Make sure that no twist has developed in the fuselage by verifying that you are level across the aft deck and the longerons at the cockpit area. If not, modify the thickness of the spacers described below so that the horizontal stabilizer will sit level on them. Find the two 1 x 2 x 1/8" spacers you made previously and glue them to the aft deck directly over the main longerons and the angle attached to the F-610 bulkhead. These are shown in section D-D’ of drawing #34.

Drill #12 the F-681 vertical stabilizer joining plate to the horizontal stabilizer as shown in drawing #34. Leave it off for now.

Make some small 1/4" thick spacer blocks (wing spar flange strip scrap or similar). Place the horizontal stabilizer on the aft deck with its rear spar butted against the uprights on the F-611 bulkhead and the elevator bearing exactly centered on the centerline of the fuselage. Put the spacer blocks under the spar to hold the stabilizer up at the proper position. Make sure the stabilizer is forced down completely onto both spacer blocks then clamp it to the uprights. Drill #12 the stabilizer rear spar to the uprights. This process and using the spacers as described sets the horizontal stabilizer at a zero angle of incidence (using the main longerons as the reference).

Make sure the stabilizer rear spar is perpendicular to the fore-aft centerline of the fuselage as follows: Mark a point about 36" out from the center along the trailing edge on each side of the stabilizer. Tie a string (cotton or dental floss; nylon stretches too much) from the center of the F-607 bulkhead top and use it to make sure that the distance from that point to the mark on each side of the stabilizer is exactly the same. See SK-55 in the construction manual.

Drill #12 the holes for the bolts that attach the forward stabilizer spar to the spacer blocks, longerons, and F-610 angle. If you do not have a right-angle drill that can get in here, drill small pilot holes down throught the upper angle into the lower angle and the fuselage, then remove the stabilizer and enlarge the holes.

Temporarily bolt the horizontal stabilizer in place. Verify that it has zero incidence angle with the rest of the fuselage by seeing that the fore and aft tooling holes in the stabilizer root ribs are the same distance up from the aft deck. If not, add a shim to the short spacer at F-610 or grind the spacer down as required.

Temporarily attach the elevators to the horizontal stabilizer. Secure both elevators to exactly the neutral position with tape and drill #12 the bolt holes for attaching the pushrod to the elevator control horns. To get both holes to line up accurately you must drill the hole in one control horn, make a spacer to go between the horns, drill a #12 hole in the spacer with a drill press, clamp the spacer securely between the horns with its hole lined up with the hole you have already drilled in one horn, and drill the other horn through the hole preferably with a smaller drill through a piece of tubing initially. It is not possible to get these holes lined up well enough by eye. This must be done carefully as it is the only thing that mokes both elevators have the same angle. You will probably find that the two horns do not line up exactly when the elevators are neutral; this will not cause any particular problem.

Make the elevator stops shown in drawing #34 such that the elevators go up 30 degrees and down 25 degrees and mount them. It will be necessary to trim one or more of the aft deck opening, the vertical stabilizer support angle, the stabilizer rear spar, and the lower end of the control horns to allow full movement.

Make the F-690 pushrod that goes between the elevator horns and the bellcrank at F-606 as shown in drawing #34. It is the right length when the bellcrank is vertical and the elevators are in their neutral position. Temporarily attach it in place to the bellcrank and elevators. You will note that the pushrod rod end bearing does not fill all the space between the elevator horns. This must be filled with spacers so that when the horn to bearing bolt is installed it does not put a lot of stress on the horns. A good way to do this is to make some squares out of thick stock (1/8" will be about right) and glue them to the elevator horns. You can even put in a rivet to make sure they stay. This will also insure that the elevators do not shift with respect to each other if the bolt loosens.

Aileron-Elevator Control Sticks Assembly

Hang up drawing #41. Remove the removable sections of the two center seat ribs. Attach the F-633 Control Column Mounts to the F-604 bulkhead with locknuts and #8 screws through the extra smaller holes you drilled in them.

Hold the Wd-610 up to the mounts and determine how many and what size washers would be needed between the mount bearings and the brackets on the Wd-610 and still allow the Wd-610 to be slipped into place fairly easily. Glue these washers to the Wd-610.

Remove the brass tubes from the tubes on the Wd-611 and Wd-612 weldments ( in earlier drawings note that the drawing on the lower left corner of the sheet calls the full-length stick Wd-612 but other parts of the drawing appear to call it Wd-611). Ream out all the bolt holes in the Wd-610 and the Wd-611 and Wd-612 steel pieces to 3/16" if necessary so AN3 bolts will go in easily. Drill the hole for attaching the right stick F-669 to the Wd-611. If you plan to put any wiring in the sticks such as for a transmit switch or trim control, drill a hole in it just below the knee on the side opposite the bearing; a wire coming out here will suffer the least movement as the stick is moved around. Fit each of the sticks to the Wd-610; the total gap between the ends of the tube on the sticks and the brackets on the Wd-610 should be about 0.020" (not 0.020" at both ends). Trim if necessary and polish the ends of the tubes so they will not chew up the F-610. Trim the brass tubes so they are just barely short enough to slide in place and line up with the holes in the Wd-610’s easily; they should be just a little longer than the tubes on the Wd-611 and Wd-612. The idea of this is that when the bolts are tightened the Wd-610 brackets are squeezed against the brass tubes, holding them fixed; the inside of the tubes on the Wd-611 and Wd-612 rotate on the brass tubes. If wear occurs it will be the outside of the brass tube, which is easily replaced. Less wear will occur here than if the bolt rotated against the inside of the tube because the bearing surface is larger. Verify that an AN4-30A bolt will go into the brass tubes easily; if not, very carefully drill out the tubes to where they go easily onto the bolts but there is no slop in the fit. Bolt the Wd-611 and Wd-612 to the Wd-610 loosely (using non-locking 1/4" nuts if you have them).

Make the F-665 hex push rod and install the rod end bearings on it. Lay the Wd-610-Wd-611-Wd-612 assembly on a table with the sticks parallel to each other and adjust the rod end bearing positions on the F-665 push rod so the bearings line up with the proper Wd-611 and Wd-612 holes. Lock the rod ends with the jamb nuts, making sure the rod ends are aligned with each other. Determine how many and what size washers may need to be put between the rod end bearings and the insides of the Wd-611 and Wd-612 while still allowing the rod ends to slip in place easily. Glue these washers to the Wd-611 and Wd-612.

Attach the Wd-610-Wd-611-Wd-612 assembly to the control stick mounts on the F-604 bulkhead (without the hex pushrod). Make a temporary F-689 pushrod assembly as shown in drawing #40 using tape to hold on the rod ends; do not drill the rivet holes. You can cut the tube to the length shown. Remove the elevator bellcrank from its mounting. Note the number of washers needed between the rod end bearings on the pushrod and the Wd-610 and the F-635 bellcrank. Glue these washers in place on the Wd-610 and both ends of the bellcrank (the F-690 rear pushrod uses the same width bearings). Put heavy tape around the pushrod openings in the bulkheads. Insert the pushrod into the fuselage from the rear by holding it bowed to keep from scraping it too much against the bulkheads. Replace the bellcrank. Attach the pushrods at both ends loosely. Pull back on the control stick and verify that the fork on the Wd-610 will go to within 1/8" of the F-604 bulkhead without part of the Wd-610 hitting the rod end bearing. If not, remove the Wd-610 and grind out the fork area until it passes this test.

Tie the elevators in their full up position. Finish making the F-689 small pushrod to a length that fits when the bottom arm of the Wd-610 to which it attaches sits about 1/8" away from the F-604 bulkhead. With this the control stick should be leaning forward by about 15 degrees when the elevators are in the neutral position. Drawing #40 shows the positions of everything in this state.

Move the stick forward and notch the F-604 bulkhead flange (and the F-618 seat ribs if necessary) enough so that the elevators can be brought to their full down position. The photograph in the construction manual showing the control stick assembly installed in the fuselage also shows how much of the F-604 will have to be cut away to allow full elevator deflection at the same time as full aileron deflection; trim the F-604 as shown (exact trim is not critical). Notch the removable seat ribs the same way as you did the permanent ones if necessary.

Verify that as the control stick is moved all the way in both directions the F-689 pushrod does not come within 1/8" of the edge of any of the openings in the bulkheads it passes through. Enlarge the openings if necessary.

Disassemble the sticks from the Wd-610 and remove the Wd-610 from the control stick mounts. Put the removable seat rib sections onto the Wd-610 and put this into position in the fuselage. Bolt and screw the removable rib sections to the fuselage with the proper hardware. Bolt the Wd-610 to the F-633 mounts with the proper hardware. Bolt the Wd-611 and Wd-612 sticks to the Wd-610 with the proper hardware. Insert the F-655 pushrod through the side of the fuselage and bolt it to the Wd-611 and Wd-612 unless you are doing the manual aileron trim option (see below). Bolt the F-689 pushrod to the Wd-610. Make sure that washers are used under the nuts in all cases, and that when the nuts are tightened it forces brackets onto bearings in such a way that the only thing that moves as you move the stick is the round bearing in its guide.

Manual Aileron Trim Option

If you have purchased the optional manual aileron trim kit, install it now. The direction with it are very complete. Just be especially careful in locating the holes for the four screws that will attach the bracket to the seat ribs; when they say there is not much room for the nutplates it is a gross understatement. You can set up the alignment such that when the handle is in its neutral position the sticks are vertical. When you have completed the assembly you may leave it installed except for the top handle and the washer and cotter key. Bolt in the hex pushrod that goes between the sticks.

Manual Elevator Trim Connection

Install a bushing in the trim cable hole in the elevator spar and the horizontal stabilizer front spar. Find the cable-end mounting nut/plate Wd-415 in the bag with the trim cable stuff; bevel its edges and drill its mounting holes #30 as shown in drawing #5a. Hold the Wd-415 on the elevator with the nut inside the trim cable opening and drill the skin through it.

Push the trim cable through the horizontal stabilizer and elevator, so that the large threaded portion sticks out of the hole in the bottom of the elevator.

No more will be done in this area at this time because once the Wd-415 is pop riveted to the elevator it becomes somewhat more difficult to pull the trim cable back to remove the elevator and horizontal stabilizer. Put the unattached hardware aside in a bag marked "Trim Cable".

Mounting the Vertical Stabilizer and Rudder

Clamp the F-681 stabilizers front spar joining plate to the horizontal stabilizer front spar as shown in drawing #34.

Make marks on the sides of the vertical stabilizer to indicate where it lines up with the aft deck (7 9/16" above the inside of the rudder mount bracket and 4 7/8" below the flange edge of the lower rib).

Set the vertical stabilizer on the horizontal stabilizer. Determine if the front spar of the vertical stabilizer will need to be cut shorter to allow the rear of the stabilizer to be straight (not forced into a curve at the bottom) when the marks on the rear spar are aligned with the aft deck. Trim the front spar as required.

Clamp the vertical stabilizer in place at right angles to the horizontal stabilizer (that is, vertical side-to-side; it does not need to be vertical front-rear although it would be if everything was perfect) and with its fore-aft centerline aligned with the fore-aft centerline of the fuselage. See the construction manual for suggestions. If you have kept the fuselage main longerons level side-to-side you can use a string through the rudder mounting bracket holes for this. Some builders offset the front of the vertical stabilizer 1/4" to 3/8" to the left as the propeller slipstream is moving in this direction, thus lessening the amount of rudder trim needed. This will require more extreme modification of the fairing that goes between the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, but most builders do this anyway because the fit of the fairing is often very poor. You will need some temporary spacers at the front spar; an alternative is to modify or make a new F-681 joining plate positioned so that a spacer is not required.

Drill the vertical stabilizer rear spar #12 to the rear bulkhead and the tailspring (RV-6) or the rear tiedown eye (RV-6A) at the same time. Also drill it to the vertical stabilizer mounting angle there. Bolt the vertical stabilizer rear spar securely to the rear bulkhead with non-locking nuts but leave out the rear tiedown eye for now (RV-6A only). It will be necessary to notch the rear bottom skin to clear the eye.

Determine the exact thickness of the spacers required between the front spar and the F-681 joining plate for that condition where the rudder hinge bracket holes still all line up (you are not forcing a curve in the rear spar). Make the spacers and glue them in place to the joining plate. As much as 7/16" of spacer may be required. A better alternative to this is to reshape and reposition the F-681 joining plate so that a smaller or no gap is left.

Drill the vertical stabilizer front spar #30 to the F-681 joining plate and spacers (if any). Drill #12 the F-681 joining plate to the horizontal stabilizer front spar angles.

Temporarily mount the rudder to the stabilizer. Make and mount the rudder stops to limit rudder travel to 35 degrees from neutral in each direction. Trim the side skins as necessary to allow full rudder travel.

If you are doing a -6A, hold the tiedown eye up to its normal mounting location and grind down the flange if necessary so the rudder will not hit it at any position.

Secure the rudder in its neutral position and connect the rudder cables to the rudder temporarily.

Temporarily install the brake-rudder pedals in the fuselage (join them with the bearing block on one end only, put the other bearing block on the longeron but back against the F-602 bulkhead, then work the pedals into a position where the ends with the block are in the corner against the main longeron and the F-602; there will be enough room to slip the other bearing block on the other ends). Set the pedals at the desired angle (put in a seat back, lay some cushions in, sit down, and see how it feels). Make temporary pedal to rudder cable links and install them. Both links should be the same length. If you make the links too long, the pedals will be too far forward, the brake pedals will tilt toward you, and you will be pushing on the brakes all the time. If you are tall, you may want to consider moving the pedal mounting forward and making the links longer; just be sure you can still get full rudder travel without the pedals hitting the firewall. You may be able to move the pedal mounting forward as much as one inch. Remove whatever you used to secure the rudder in neutral. See how this feels and make the final links as shown in drawing #34. Install the permanent links and bolt down the rudder pedal assembly.

Remove the vertical stabilizer and rivet the F-681 joining plate and any spacers to the vertical stabilizer front spar.

You can remove the elevators and rudder for storage, but if possible leave the stabilizers temporarily attached so that you will will be ready to make the fairings when you get the finishing kit.

Canopy Deck and Forward Structure

By now the only pieces you have left in the fuselage kit are the canopy deck, the console pieces, and the forward structure and skin. Many builders feel that the center console (the channel that goes up from the F-604 bulkhead to the center of the instrument panel) is in the way and have left it out. The only problem this brings is where to mount the manual elevator trim and the engine controls. I have seen a number of installations where these were mounted on a horizontal sub-panel attached to the bottom of the instrument panel if the main part of the instument panel is already full. The fuel selector valve is put in the location shown in the plans just forward of the spar between the seat cushions after the wings and floor panel are installed.

All of the components remaining are different for the sliding canopy and the tip-up. There are reasonably good instructions for the tip-up in Van’s construction manual but not much for the slider. I am building the slider, hence the instructions that follow only apply to it.

Canopy Decks F-6110 and F-6113

The location of these parts is shown on drawing SC-2 but not clearly. They are sort of shown on SC-3 in the forward fuselage side view but the F-6113 is labelled incorrectly as F-621B (the tip-up canopy part).

Rivet the F-605 bulkhead to the F-657 gusset and the main longeron with flush head rivets.

Trim the forward end of one of the F-6113’s (that’s the end that doesn’t have the deep, skinny slot) as shown in drawing SC-3 including all of the bend area; make sure you have the revisions shown in the March 1994 RVator. Hold it in the fuselage with the trimmed end against the F-604 bulkhead and trim the rear end to fit against the F-605 bulkhead. The revised drawing dimensions will be right except for the depth of the narrow notch, which is made just long enough to clear the F-657 gusset and allow the deck outside edge to completely cover the main longeron. Trim along the longeron edge.

Trim the F-6110 as shown in the revised drawing, then put it in place and trim it some more until its edge lines up with the longeron edge. As part of this sharpen the inside edge that overlays the tab on the F-6113 to a chisel shape and also cut this area a little deeper to get a smooth line between the two deck pieces. Mark a line along the rear edge of the F--6110 onto the tab of the F-6113, then remove the F-6110 and bend the tab up a little forward of this line so it will lay against the inside of the F-6110. Drill #40 these pieces to the main longeron using 1" spacing (not shown on plans) but do not drill any holes in the area of the F-605 bulkhead. Drill the F-6110 to the tab on the F-6113. Countersink the holes.

Repeat for the other side of the fuselage.

Forward Structure F-6105, F-6107, F6108, F6109

The F-6107 and F-6108 pieces are right triangles with the point cut off. The right angle goes up and at the front in the fuselage. Tweak the flange at the front to be perpendicular to the web. Mark a line on these pieces perpendicular to the top edge and 14 1/2" from the front on the side opposite the flanges(from SC-3 Forward Fuselage Side View 1/4 Scale; this number is not exactly correct but is close enough since the exact location of the F-6105’s fore and aft is not critical. It does depend on the spacing between the F-602 bulkheads and the firewall to be 14 1/2"). Make the vertical angle pieces that join the two F-6107’s to the F-6105 bulkhead halves as shown in drawing SC-3 section B-B’ out of 3/4 x 3/4 x .062 (1/16)" angle and drill them #30 to the F-6107’s on the forward edge of the lines.

Drill #41the F-6107’s and F6108 to the firewall as shown in SC-3 Section A-A’ and remove them.

Notch out the ends of the F-6105 bulkheads so they will fit over the longerons and F-602 bulkheads aft of and against the F-602 webs; the end of the flanges should line up with the outside edge of the side skin. Make the flanges perpendicular to the web along the top area of these parts to about halfway down the curved part. Also do the straight side flanges. Smooth the flanges where the notches are to avoid bumps in the skin line later.

Measure the width of the F-6108 along the line previously marked; use this to locate the notch that you cut in the F-6105R as shown in section B-B’ (leave the flange between this notch and the top of F-6108). Measure the width of the F-6107’s at the lines and use this to cut the notches in both F-6105’s. Note the tab (shown on the F-6105L picture) left in the bottom of the notch which is bent down to join to the F-6107.

The F-6105’s were changed in late 1994 in a way that slightly affects the assembly process. Earlier versions had a bent-up flange along the inside edge where the two halves join to make a whole bulkhead; this required the construction of a 0.095" thick spacer between the two halves below the intersecting F-6108 rib. Later kits do not have this area bent up as a flange, and the drawing was changed to show it as an "overlap area". The later construction is easier to manage. Clamp the F-6105 halves together by their inner flanges or overlaps. Lay a straightedge across the two halves along the horizontal line where they must bend so the lower few inches can be riveted to the F-602 bulkheads. Mark this line. If you have the earlier parts with the flanges, make a notch in the flanges here (location not critical). Make the bend in the F-6105 halves (angle not critical; estimate from drawing).

Place the F-6109 plate on the flange side of the F-6108 rib as close to the small end of the rib as it will go(see drawing SC-2, lower left; the plate is shown with dashed lines). Drill them together with two or three holes #30 in places away from the junction with the F-6105 halves, the Wd-643 rollbar support, and the angle that supports it.

If you have the earlier F-6105’s, make the two 0.095" spacers that go below the big notch for the rib between the F-6105 halves out of strips of 0.032" and 0.062" material. Clamp the F-6105 halves together with the spacer pieces between and drill them #30. Disassemble and put back together with the F-6108 rib and F-6109 plate in place between the F-6105 halves and the line on the rib aligned with the web of the F-6105’s. Drill two holes #30 to join the F-6105 halves to the F-6108 rib and F-6109 plate just at the top and bottom of the F-6108 rib (avoiding the angle which goes on later). Disassemble.

If you have the later F-6105’s with the overlapping tabs, Clamp them together such that the outer edge flanges line up with the fuselage side skin outside surfaces when the bulkhead is in its proper position. Using the length of the line marked on the F-6108 rib at the F-6105 position, determine the area where the rib will intersect the bulkhead halves. Bend up the "overlap" in this area to form flanges; the spacing between the flanges must be 0.095" or slightly greater. Drill #30 the two halves together as shown in section B-B’ of SC-3. Disassemble and put back together with the F-6108 rib and F-6109 plate in place between the F-6105 halves and the line on the rib aligned with the web of the F-6105’s. Drill two holes #30 to join the F-6105 halves to the F-6108 rib and F-6109 plate just at the top and bottom of the F-6108 rib (avoiding the angle which goes on later). Disassemble.

Cleco the F-6107 ribs and the F-6105/F6108/F-6109/spacers assembly to the firewall. Make the small angles that join the top of the F-6105‘s to the flanges of the F-6107’s out of flat .025 material that you bend up to have the same radius as the bend in the F-6105 flange. Drill these angles #41 to the F-6107 flanges and #30 to the F-6105 webs. Drill #30 the heavy angles on the F-6107’s to the F-6105 halves. Remove the assembly and drill #41 the F-6107 bottom flanges to the bent-down tab on the F-6105’s. Dimple the #41 holes.

Reinstall the assembly and drill #30 the F-6105 halves to the F-602 bulkheads in a few places.

Make the angles that attach the F-6110 canopy decks to the F-6105’s and drill them #30 as shown in section B-B’ on drawing SC-3. These angles do not attach to the F-6105’s in a level attitude as the drawing shows; let them slope downward as the twist in the main longeron and the canopy deck dictates.

Forward Top Skin F-6106

Do the initial trim of the forward top skin as shown in drawing SC-3. Drill pilot holes in the skeleton. Stiffen the F-6105’s so the rivet lines in the skin will be straight.

This skin is fairly stiff and has a fairly sharp curve in it at the main longerons; therefore it is better to pre-bend it rather than trying to force it into position on the skeleton. Tape the side edge to a piece of pipe, lay the skin inside up on a table, and use a pipe wrench to twist the pipe while you lay on it to get a gentle curve near the middle and a fairly sharp curve right above the longeron.

Place the skin on the skeleton and align it very carefully; there is just enough material in this piece to allow it to be riveted properly aft of the F-604 bulkhead. Make sure the dimension across the rear edge is 54", not 53" as indicated on the plans. Drill it #41 across the skeleton including the firewall and #30 through the main longerons (avoiding the smaller rivets put there earlier to hold on the side skin). Do not drill at or aft of the F-604 bulkhead at this time.

Mark the edge of the firewall flanges onto the topskin. Remove the skin.

Instrument Panel F-610

Trim the instrument panel a little outside the lines marked on it at the factory, and then trim more as required to allow it to go in place on the canopy decks and against the F-6107 and F-6108 ribs at the proper slope (perpendicular to the rib tops, parallel to the F-6105’s). The top edge of the panel is trimmed with the application of the top skin later. Make pieces of 3/4 x 3/4 x 0.062 angle for the forward side of the panel to hold it to the canopy deck. Drill these #30 to the canopy deck. Drill one hole #40 through it into each rib flange (making sure they hit right in the middle of the flanges as they are just barely long enough for a platenut) and each canopy deck angle.

Put the top skin back in place and trim the top of the instrument panel to match its curve.

Make the curve in the reinforcing angle for the top of the instrument panel by cutting notches in it as shown in drawing SC-3 (revision 4 or higher; if you have an earlier version the general idea is shown in drawing 35). The notches in the sharply curved area outside of the outer ribs must be no more than 1" apart; the notches in the less-curved areas between the ribs can be 1 1/2" apart. You can easily make the notches by drilling a #30 for the inside end of each notch and then cutting a narrow "V" into each hole with a bandsaw.

Drill the angles to the panel. The idea of using screws and platenuts rather than rivets to attach the panel to the angle as mentioned in drawing SC-3 is so that you can take the whole instrument panel in and out. This is useful with the sliding canopy because there is no top access to the rear of the panel like there is with the tip-up. You don’t want to be doing all the panel assembly and repair laying on your back. If you do screws, you can drill the holes #30 for the screws right in the middle of notches so you will have plenty of material to attach the nutplate ears to. It is probably not worth the trouble to shock mount the whole panel; it would be difficult and if you don’t do it right you could easily cause some instruments to suffer more damaging vibration. It is much easier to make removable shock-mounted subpanels, such as just for the gyro instruments. This is preferred by most builders.

Put the instrument panel in place with the angles clecoed to it and drill #41 the topskin to the angles. Try to hit the angles right at their notches where they stick up the highest so the skin won’t have waves in it.

Smooth the trimmed-out edge of the top skin; there should be about 1 1/2" of overhang across the top to form a small glareshield for the panel. Do not cut the notch in the skin for the windshield at this time.

You may also want to make an angle bracket to attach the bottom side of the canopy deck to the lower end of the instrument panel; This does not show on the plans but the panel will flex a lot less if you do this.

Remove the instrument panel and countersink the skin holes in its angles. Mount #8 platenuts on the angles and rib ends for the screws that will attach the panel.

Remove the forward topskin and dimple it. Dimple the skin holes in the skeleton parts and firewall and countersink the holes in the main longerons. Trim the sides of the topskin to within about 3/8" of the longeron holes; note that the longeron bends down near the aft end of the skin so don’t trim on a straight line all the way back. Trim the forward edge to correspond to the marks for the firewall flanges but leave about 1/8" excess. Cleco the skin back on and tape on a strip of aluminum from the trim bundle just behind the forward edge of the skin. Use this to mark and trim a straighter line; this will make it easier to trim the cowling to fit later. Make sure the skin covers all of the firewall flange; trim the flange if necessary.

Completing the Fuselage Kit Riveting

There are a number of areas where it is better not to rivet everything until you do some things with the finishing kit. This includes two topskins, parts of the forward top structure, the canopy decks to the fuselage, and the forward bottom skin. For now, clean, debur, and prime everything.

By now you should have a good idea of where you want wires and other things to pass from the front section to the area aft of the main spar. Drill any holes that will be needed in the F-604 bulhead, such as just below the armrest, right at the top where covered by the canopy deck, or down next to the holes for the rudder cables. Then rivet the reinforcing channels to the F-604 bulkhead halves.

Rivet the angles to the canopy decks, the two canopy deck pieces together at the bent-up tab, each F-6107 rib to its F-6105 half, and the instrument panel support angles to the forward topskin. Install nutplates.

Also, you have some but not all of the materials needed to do the brake lines. The rest come with the finishing kit, so wait until you get them.

The center console pieces and fuel valve mounting plate are provided in the fuselage kit but it is better to make these after the wings are installed. Most builders want to do as much as possible before installing the wings since they are working in tight spaces.

If you plan to install outside air intakes on the side skins for cabin cooling (option available from Van’s) they should be put in place now while you can still reach this area easily. A few builders have made their own air intakes inside the cowling right at the engine cooling inlets; while this avoids any outside opening, it slightly increases the chance of things you don’t want getting inside the cockpit. (fire, carbon monoxide, gas fumes, stc).

fuseout.doc 1/5/97