Misc Rear Fuselage Tasks
While I wait for replacement rivets for the side skins, I worked on a few miscellaneous tasks.
- Finished assembly of one of the front seats
- Installed rivets into rear fuselage skins – I purposely left it cleco’d in a ready-to-close state in case I thought of any last-minute changes needed, but a month has passed and so I decided it’s time
- Riveted down the comm antenna mount on top of the fuselage
I installed stainless steel M4 rivnuts for the comm antenna plate, rather than the coated steel rivnuts that are more commonly used throughout the plane. In addition to being a little stronger, I figured the extra corrosion resistance would be beneficial in this location. I was only able to install 2 of the 4 rivnuts because the forward locations were too close to the ceiling in my garage! I’ll need to come back to install them once the aircraft is on wheels.
![](https://i0.wp.com/sling4.jetshine.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/img_5135.jpg?resize=678%2C509&ssl=1)
Some of the holes didn’t line up very well between the skin and rib 6 on the rear fuselage, and so I had to slot the holes somewhat when I was initially fitting the skins. I decided to upsize some of the holes to 4.0mm to make it less slotted, which is what I think others have done too.
![](https://i0.wp.com/sling4.jetshine.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/img_5133.jpg?resize=678%2C509&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/sling4.jetshine.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/img_5134.jpg?resize=678%2C509&ssl=1)
Hello Patrick
just a suggestion, do you think its worth trying to fit the comm antenna down flush onto the plate.
I’d have to look into it more… I think there’s a gasket of some sort that fits between the antenna and the mounting plate, maybe that makes it fit up against the skin, but I’ll take a look tonight and report back
Most of the heavy lifting to support the Comm antenna is done by the plate internally, I think the outside thin plate is there more to protect the skin.
Are you talking about removing the thin plate on the exterior? I took some photos to show what it looks like when the antenna is installed (Rami AV-10), see my separate post.