Which brings me to the frustration of the week: One might assume that is is possible to complete a sub kit like, oh, let's say hypothetically, the fuselage kit without needing parts from the next kit. Well, one would be very wrong because in at least two instances that I have run in to recently I have needed parts from the finish kit which I have not yet received. Specifically, the wing root fairings which are to be fit during the first wing fitting and the F-697 top hat piece which is needed during the front deck assembly. Both of these parts are called out in the manual during the fuselage assembly but are not provided until the finish kit. Arrgh! Neither are real show stopppers, but I wasted a lot of time looking for them only to find out that they haven't yet arrived.
The front deck begins with the aforementioned flanges which begin life as aluminum angle of various thicknesses.
They each get cut and drilled in some way, a few being to get by without having a corner lopped off. Most of these will be used to mount the instrument panel.
Instrument pannel.
Here are the ribs that make the front deck frame.
I need to make a cut out in the center to accommodate some of the avionics that are a little deeper than Van had originally planned for.
I will cleco this thing to together prior to a test fit on the fuselage.
Now it's all riveted in place. The top skin will not be riveted down until everything is complete with in the forward fuselage area.
So here is a sneak preview on what I'm planning for the panel. The avionics manufacturers provide full sized stickers of their offerings for panel planning purposes, but I decided not to avail myself of their sticky backed feature. I'm just using masking tape so I can move them around much easier.
That's it for this week.
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