This is the first major modification to be done on the fuselage and it’s basically where I started with the build.
The manual indicates where the bulkheads should go but the fuselage first needs to be level front to back and left to right. Even though that was done previously it needs to be checked several times to make sure it’s right before any marking or mounting of parts.
As you can see in figure 1 the manual has a simple line drawing indicating where to install the bulkheads as measured from the front of the fuselage.
In the picture above I used masking tape across each side of the lower part of the fuselage to mark where the bulkheads would be. I then used a laser level and aligned it with the tape to mark the edges all around where the bulkheads will join with the fuselage.
In the above picture, you can see the firewall being held in place by Clecos. I discovered these in the process of building this plane and they work really well for holding things in place and doing fit ups before final assembly. I even use them while doing glue-ups to hold things in place while the expoxy cures.
You can also see some of the other parts for the landing gear bulkhead. Those pieces take a decent amount of adjustment to get to fit correctly.
A lot of dry fitting was required to get all of these pieces to fit together. Although I couldn’t wait to start epoxying everything together I had to hold off until I had every part fitting together properly. It’s hard to tell in the picture but the ducts that run front to back make a good example for getting things to fit correctly. It’s difficult to find the exact spot to mount them because the shape of the fuselage makes it difficult to locate the exact location on both sides. In addition, all of these parts come from the factory rough cut from their molds. The flanges arent’ even and need to be trimmed, and the ducts need to be