Wendell Folks RV-8 Project - Page 45.

March 5, 2007:  The time has come to put on the top skin.  The last thing before doing that is installing the forward baggage floor.  When that was done, the parking brake control cable was attached the hydraulic valve and tested before continuing.

And here it is, the forward top skin in position after the evening session.   Putting in the forward baggage floor took more time than anticipated since some of the #8 plate nuts needed to have tap run through them to get the screws installed.  A small token number of rivets were installed along the longeron.  I demonstrated to Wendell the need for much higher air pressure to the rivet gun when installing rivets through the longeron. The longeron and the doubler plate near the windshield roll bar were absorbing most of the energy from the rivet gun.

March 6, 2007:  The session tonight finished all the rivets along the left side of the forward top skin.  Since we could not get a bucking bar inside the upper gear leg tower area, there are seven CS4 blind rivets installed in that area.  The larger rivets on the steel gussets at the firewall were back-riveted from inside the baggage area.  You can also see where some of the smaller rivets were set on the "corner" of the instrument panel bulkhead in front of the windshield roll bar.  The next session should go very fast since most of the rivets are across the top of the instrument panel and the bulkhead between the forward baggage area and the instrument panel.  There are fewer rivets to set on the right longeron since the baggage door area came with all the rivets installed in the quick-build fuselage.

March 7, 2007:  The forward top skin got the remaining rivets in the two bulkheads between the cabin area and the firewall, but none in the firewall as of the end of this session.

March 8, 2007:  The Thursday night session reached a BIG MILESTONE as you shall see below!  The forward top skin and the firewall are finally being riveted together.

Everything up to this point in recent weeks has been in preparation for mounting the propeller on the engine.  Putting the spinner backplate on the propeller is the last step before bolting the propeller to the engine.  A light coating of Aeroshell 100W aviation oil on the "O-ring" is the final touch before the installation.  We both carried the prop around to the front of the airplane and carefully engaged the bolts with the mounting flange.  Getting the six bolts secured is a long, slow process since each bolt can only be turned a few turns at a time in rotating sequence.

Here is why the prop had to be mounted at this time -- fitting the upper cowl to the fuselage.  A pair of paint stirring sticks are on each side of the prop spinner backplate to establish a 1/4" space between the front of the cowl and the backplate of the spinner.  The next step was to mark regular intervals on the rear edge of the fiberglass cowl and the forward top skin.  A thin Sharpie line was then drawn where the rear edge of the cowl overlapped the skin.  When the cowl was removed, the distance from the line to the forward edge of the skin was taken at each reference point.  We then subtracted 1/8" for sanding margins.  That measurement was then written on the cowl next to each reference point.  Wendell's assignment for Friday is to remove the excess fiberglass from the rear edge before the final fitting of the upper cowl occurs.

I also explained the method to insure the fiberglass spinner shell is cut properly to clear the propeller blades.  Between those two fiberglass work assignments, Wendell will have plenty to do in his next daytime work sessions.  He also commented that his Saturday morning hangar session with his friends will have a lot to discuss now that the project is looking more like a functional airplane.