As promised, we jumped back into building during the last couple of days. First order of business was to finish riveting the firewall. I left a couple of rivets undone because none of my rivet sets was small enough to fit in between the firewall flange and the rivet head. I ordered a small 3/4″ set from Brown Tool…and problem solved.

I had used some wooden wedges to keep the tailcone level during match-drilling, but it was too easy to move it out of alignment just by bumping it. So I devised this little clamping arrangement to keep things nice and level; the thin stiffener angle is drilled and clecoed at the top, and clamped to the aluminum angle on the bottom. There’s one on either side, front and back. Worked great!

With the clamping issue solved, I went back to match-drilling the aft tailcone.

I also ordered some new parts for the F-705A/B rear spar carrythrough. I was never happy with the way the original parts came out, so I’m rebuilding them. Sorry, no pictures.