Fuselage.... progress

 Have continued to work on ordering parts.  Next orders will be:

1. Alaska Bushwheel mains, rims and brakes.
2. Glasair:  Floor boards (front and rear), instrument panel, glare shield, seats, upper tunnel cover. 
3. Stainless brake lines and fittings (already done)
4. Firewall aft UL Power components (pumps, etc) (already done)

Ordering parts - while it sounds easy - is not.  Many businesses will not ship to Canada, or accept credit cards / PayPal.  Many cheques have been sent... plus, the Glasair manual lists of their part numbers, and sometimes some sleuthing is involved in finding the actual part number.

However, at this point I have everything on order for the gear, fuselage upgrades, and interior.  The credit card is warm.

Getting to building... fuselage has been leveled in the garage.

Service Bulletin 70 (Vertical Fin Cracks)

GlaStar/Sportsman Service Bulletin 70REFERENCE: Vertical fin cracks

As the aircraft has never flown, there is no signs of damage on the fin or bulkheads.  However, I am going to reinforce them while I am at it.

Vertical fin spar reinforcement

All of the sheerweb angles and lower rudder hinge were removed, and the doubler drilled from the aft side.  Then crawled up the fuselage (wasn't as bad as I thought.... but I took my phone with my in case I had to call for help LOL) and drilled the existing mounts from the back.  Everything fit correctly.

However, the existing bolts not long enough now, and need to be ordered.

I am going to do the bulkhead reinforcement, and then rivet this doubler in place.

Tailwheel mount:

The forward mount consists of two aluminum mounts.  The upper ties into bulkhead D, and the bottom is epoxied to the bottom of the fuselage.  The bolt runs all the way through this entire assembly.

My T3 arrived.  It will fit nicely...

And my tailwheel will be ready in about a week...  From the tundratailwheel.com site...

Next step is fiberglass work.  Service Bulletin 74.

GlaStar/Sportsman Service Bulletin 74-Rev AREFERENCE: Fuselage Tail Cone Damage.

I really dont think this will be an option with the T3.  The rear saddle contours to the fuselage, rather than a standard leaf spring mount where the leaf springs are compressed against the fuselage with a mount and bolt on each side.  But I am not going to take the chance, and do the work anyway.

All the 4130 for the gear truss upgrade arrived yesterday, and the tail pull handle should be arriving any day now.