As I mentioned last week, I didn’t properly ensure I had the top edge of the gear web fully nestled inside the aux longeron before drilling the web to the forward bulkhead, so I ended up with significantly misaligned holes. I could have drilled the holes out for AN3 bolts, but access is tight there because of the reinforcing angle (see picture after this one) and it would have added significant weight. Anyway, I went ahead and drilled the gear web to the aux longeron (you can see the holes in the lower right of this picture) to keep the web tight against the longeron. I then match drilled the end flanges to the top and bottom longerons and then match drilled it to the gear web.
I finished fabricating the reinforcing angles where the forward tank attach bracket mounts.
I drilled the upper hole (lower in this picture) to #15 and then reamed to 3/16″, then bolted the tank attach angle in place to drill the second hole through the skin, bulkhead, spacers, and angle.
Unfortunately, while drilling the second bracket, my #15 bit broke right as I finished the hole. Fortunately, the bit wasn’t jammed in the hole and came out easily.
I then bolted both brackets on with some scrap hardware to keep the reinforcing angle precisely in position for the final hole that needs to be drilled out countersunk for a screw. I’ll do that after the bottom skin is on though.
All of the fabrication work for the forward fuselage is done. I still need to match drill all of the skins and take care of a laundry list of small tasks, then this can all come apart for deburring, countersinking/dimpling, and priming.
