![\"Canoe](\"https:\/\/mightyrv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/2013-03-16-17.52.07.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe ran into one problem area. \u00a0A couple of aluminum angles on the firewall bottom just don’t leave enough room to buck a few of the rivets on the lower firewall stiffener. \u00a0Van’s offsets these rivet holes a little aft to provide more room, but the extra space isn’t enough to get a bucking bar in there without beating up the angle.<\/p>\n
Some folks remove a little material from the angle to allow those rivets to be bucked, but I elected to use blind rivets. \u00a0Fortunately, I had some Cherrymax CR3214 structural blind rivets on hand – they’re the Cherry equivalent of NAS1097 “oops” solid rivets – they have 1\/8″ shanks, but also have a flush head that fits dimples or countersinks for 3\/32″ flush rivets. \u00a0So all I had to do was drill the problematic holes out to #30 and use the Cherrys. \u00a0Problem solved…<\/p>\n To paraphrase an old Tom Cruise movie, “Cherrymax…there is no substitute.”<\/p>\n The result of all that work? \u00a0A nice, smooth belly skin.<\/p>\n Another picture of the final product…I knew you’d want one.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You know the old adage – “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!” \u00a0During my assignment to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, an airplane building colleague in EAA Chapter 1000 had that … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>We need something to hold the fuselage at a convenient height, so one of my tasks for the week is to fabricate a rolling cradle that will let us make the most of our limited shop space. \u00a0We’re also rearranging the shop to free up enough maneuvering room for future work, like installing the canopy and hanging the engine.<\/p>\n