In between riveting the fuse side skins with my daughter's help, I also decided to start work on the upper forward fuselage. This begin with fabricating a number of brackets from various pieces of raw aluminum.
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| F-1044C spacer cut to length and 1/8" hole drilled |
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| F-1044B angle cut to length with one end trimmed to match the drawing given in the plans. All that remains is for this end to be bent to the required angle |
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| Bending the F-1044B angle end in the vice. I gradually increased the bend until it exactly matched the specs in the plans. |
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| Placing the F-1044B angle over the drawing in the plans to confirm the correct angle of the bent end |
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| Remaining brackets cut to size and edges deburred |
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| F-1003C-L and R instrument panel attach flanges fluted and nutplate attach holes dimpled |
Next, I started preparing the F-1044A and F-1045 ribs by deburring the edges and dimpling the nutplate attach holes at the aft end and the #30 holes on the front flanges
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| For the few holes where I could not fit the pneumatic squeezer, I used a #30 tight fit dimpling set to squeeze out the dimples |
I then took out the sub panel center and sides and deburred all those edges. Following this, I bent the lower portion of the sub panels to the 7.3 degree angle required in the plans. I followed the suggestion of using the edge of the workbench to aid in bending, but this was still somewhat difficult to achieve, especially on the center sub panel, due to the thickness of the metal.
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| Center subpanel clamped to edge of workbench along the required bend line. I used another block of wood to push down and form the bend, It took a while, but I was eventually able to get the bend to the required angle as shown above |
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| Center sub panel bend after removing the clamps. It came out better than I thought it would. |
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| Bending the sub panel sides was a little easier with the help of the empennage bucking bar and some C clamps to help form the bend |
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| Sub panel side bends completed to match the angle of the center sub panel bend |
After clecoing all subpanel parts and ribs together, I clecoed the upper forward fuselage assembly to the firewall in order to match drill the F-1044C spacer and F-1044B angle.
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| Upper forward assembly clecoed to the fuselage |
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| After inserting the F-1044B angle through the slot in the subpanel and clecoing it to the rib, the previously bent tip rested perfectly on the firewall upper angle. No adjustment to the F-1044B was necessary |
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| I noticed that after clecoing, the F-1044B angle rose right up to the rib flange. I marked this corner for sanding down slightly to avoid any interference with the skin later |
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| The upper forward fuselage assembly pushes the upper portion of the firewall forward a few degrees |
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| Upper forward fuselage subpanel viewed from the cabin. The bend angle at the bottom of the subpanel worked out well for all holes to line up |
Prior to drilling, I took time to flute the F-1003D and F-1003E angle to conform to the curve at the top of the instrument panel.
Before starting to flute, however, I first place the angles in the correct locations on the instrument panel, and marked the screw hole (and associated nutplate widths for nutplates that will be attached later) locations on the angles to avoid fluting in those areas.
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| Angles fluted to conform to the curve of the instrument panel. Several heavy flutes were required to achieve the correct shape |
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| Angles placed against the instrument panel to confirm the correct amount of curve imparted by fluting. Note that one angle is slightly longer than the other, so be sure to place them correctly before working on this step |
I then continued with match drilling the upper forward fuselage assembly.
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| I realized the first step in match drilling the F-1044B angle was to drill a hole through the guide hole in the upper firewall angle into the recess. This was easily done with an 18" #30 bit taking care to ensure the bit was held perpendicular to the firewall angle hole |
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| #30 hole drilled in recess that will later be filled |
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| Recess hole seen from below. This hole is needed to allow match drilling back up into the F-1044B angle tab |
Next, I match drilled the hole in the F-1044B angle tab up from the firewall recess, and then continued match drilling all holes from the F-1044A rib into the spacer and angle. Note there are two holes at the aft end of the rib web that are not match drilled because the spacer doesn't extend up that far even though the angle does.
After some thought, I decided to just go ahead and remake the F-1003D and F-1003E attach angles as I felt it would be easier to do that now to get better hole placement. This time I decided to attach the Aerosport panel support frame to the upper fuselage ribs as the holes for the panel permit easy access to hold the attach angles securely while drilling.
I cut new attach angles from 3/4" x 3/4" x 0.032" angle stock and fluted them to match the curve in the instrument panel frame. After doing this, I added a few additional flutes to the curved portion to try and pull the angle back to 90 degrees (curving causes the flanges to pull out). I then clamped the angles to the panel frame and match drilled the skin rivet holes.
Once all skin rivet holes were match drilled, I then match drilled the #19 screw holes from the panel frame into the angles, but this time I did not push down on the skin as I had done previously. This allows the skin to curve naturally and positions the screw holes further away from the angle bend.
I then drilled nutplate attach holes into the angles, and dimpled all required holes.
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| Upper forward fuselage assembly clecoed back onto the fuselage with the Aerosport panel frame attached |
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| Angles match drilled to the skin and frame |
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| Angles removed after match drilling and nutplate attach holes drilled using a #8 nutplate jig |
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| Attach angle holes dimpled. I was happy with how these turned out compared to my previous attempt |
The upper forward fuselage skin contains holes intended for hand holds. However, the Aerosport 310 panel covers at least half of the handhold holes once it is put in position.
After researching the online forums, my current thinking is that I will not utilize these handholds and instead cover them up. To that end I decided to fabricate some cover plates that I will later rivet in place instead of the handhold doublers.
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| Using a handhold doubler to trace out a cover plate on 0.032 Alclad sheet |
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| Cover plate cut to size, deburred and match drilled to the skin |
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Left and right cover plates sit well on the skin after drilling. I did add a slight bend to each cover plate to conform to the skin bend
For now I will pause on the upper forward fuselage section as there will be a lot of work to do inside the front fuselage prior to installing this, and I'd rather have easy access to this area as long as possible. |
Time Taken: 12.2 hours
Dates: October 8 2025 - October 16 2025, November 25 2025 - November 30 2025
Upper Forward Fuselage Assembly Total Time: 12.2 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 1239.8 hours
Priming Total Time: 143.6 hours (not included in build time totals)
