I'm planning to attach my tail cone to the fuselage after the holidays, so for now I am skipping around a few section performing tasks that don't require the tail cone to be attached.
Under the rear seats, I will need to install access panels so that I can gain access to the COM antennas. There's not a lot of space in between the ribs so the access will be somewhat constrained. I wanted to make sure the panels sat flush with the rear seat floors, so I designed 3D drill templates for a doubler and a cover that will maximize the opening while still allowing the cover to sit perfectly flush with the rear seat floor when attached.
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| 3D design for an access panel doubler. Nutplate holes (missing from the drill template) would be drilled after drilling the screw holes. Doubler fits precisely between the rear seat ribs, and opening is maximized while respecting appropriate edge distances |
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| 3D printed antenna access panel doubler and cover drill templates |
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| I started by tracing the doubler on to 0.032" aluminum sheet and drilling 1/4" holes in the corners of the opening |
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| Using a hand nibbler to cut out the doubler opening. This worked really well. Tape was used to minimize scuffing of the doubler |
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| Doubler opening cut and filed to size, and doubler cut to rough size |
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| Two access panel doublers and covers (one set for each COM antenna) cut to size and match drilled to templates |
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| I was then able to match drill the remaining screw holes into the access panel covers (from the doublers), and the nutplate attach holes (using a #8 nutplate jig) |
For the time being I set the access panels aside and worked on the hinges for the rear seat backs. These were straightforward to form and match drill to the rear seat covers, making sure that they were exact mirror images of each other on the left and right sides.
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| Lower hinge halves cut to length with the center two eyelets removed and a guide line drawn 1/4" from the edge |
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| Hinge halves were clamped to the rear seat floors, and with the guideline visible through the rivet holes, match drilled to #30 |
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| Lower hinge halves ready for priming after drilling and deburring |
I then completed a few miscellaneous tasks in this section that can be done prior to tail cone attachment. As I have final sized holes in my parts, I was able to skip over several steps involving final drilling, however I did separate and debur the baggage floor stiffeners and also match drilled the nutplate holes along the inboard edge of each rear seat floor into the F-1017 ribs.
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| Baggage floor stiffeners cut to size and deburred. I won't be using all of these as I will be installing the Sky Designs storage bins in the baggage area later. |
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| Nutplate holes match drilled into the inboard F-1017 rear seat ribs on each side |
Time Taken: 11.3 hours
Dates: December 1 2025 - December 20 2025
Baggage Area Total Time: 11.3 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 1251.1 hours
Priming Total Time: 143.6 hours (not included in build time totals)
