Section 29 has proven to be a lot of work but the results are more than worth it.  With the help of the Mrs. again, the four side skins are riveted on now and I’m pretty happy with the results of the bending.  I was able to get the new engine mount bracket drilled and riveted to the firewall with better results this time.  After the side skins were on, I was able to get the front floor panels on.  These are pop riveted onto the structure and I’m glad I’m not building the entire airplane with pop rivets.  They are almost more work than bucking.

The landing gear mounts had to be finessed into place and led to a bit of a panic attack on my part.  While bolting them in, I realized the spacers for the two long bolts weren’t fitting quite right.  After a lot of measuring, I determined the spars were a bit too far apart according to the plans.  If the spars are off, this could be a huge concern.  After a post on VAF and a call to Van’s, I figured out that I didn’t remove the vinyl from the spacers and also didn’t insert the right spacers into the spar during construction.  I lucked out though and the spars are only .002″ off after its all said and done. That was close enough for me and Van’s so I pressed on with as it was.  Adding a thin washer fixed the spacers and the other two for the right side was cut a 1/32″ longer.

I also made up a couple of doublers for the comm antennas mounting on the belly.  I’ll be using Comant CI-122 VHF antennas and went ahead and installed nut plates since there won’t be acces from inside once the baggage compartment floor is in.  The doublers will tie into one of the baggage compartment floor ribs.  I will make two more doublers for the Delta Pop ADSB and transponder antennas which will go in the tunnel.

A lot of riveting evenings later, the skins are on and I’m ready to move on to the steps and pretty soon the tail cone.