Step Support Angles Riveted

It was a very long day today. Not so much with building on the RV but because of working on supplemental things. For instance, as I need to get the fuselage out of the shop soon because it is just getting too big to move around it, I wanted to build another lower workbench on casters to put the fuselage on. The idea was to use the rectangular crate the fuselage arrived in and add 4x4s in the corners as legs. That's just what I did today. I cut the 4x4s 2 feet long and added casters as well as cross struts under the plywood sheet to strengthen the structure. It all worked out well, although I expected it to be done much sooner compared to when I actually finished. Anyway, it is done and I think this will be helpful - I just wish I had cut the 4x4s a bit shorter. Overall the workbench is now 28.5" tall and that is just half an inch lower than my folding table I am working on right now. That means I might have to use a step for a few things on top of the fuselage. We'll see how it plays out.


Then I upgraded the shop's air supply lines or at least I wanted to. After a few hours of work this still isn't working as I wanted it to be and I think I'll have to redo it. So still no improvements but also no work done on the plane.

Finally, I got to work on the steps and the support angles. Clecoing and match-drilling was quickly done, so quickly that I forgot to take a photo of that step. So all I have is when I removed the bulkhead after the tricky stuff was done.


Next was to do some more match drilling with the stiffener that holds the nutplate. That took a while as all that could hold it in place was that nutplate and a screw in it.
Then finally everything was taken apart, deburred and re-primed as the angles were a bit scratched up. And then the angles were ready to get riveted to the floor ribs.


Unfortunately, the room to rivet these LP3-4s was so limited that I had to use the CQR (Close Quarter Riveter) to get these pulled. Not too bad, but time consuming.


I also touched up some scratches and some light primer spray on the bulkhead. That's why I stopped here and let the stuff dry over night before riveting it in place tomorrow.
There's also another prep & prime session coming up tomorrow and I have a new spray gun from HF that will get tested.