Corrected my problem with the two missing dimples in the side skins. What I ended up doing is as follows. Cut a small piece of steel tubing that just fit around the beveled base of the K1100 nutplate, about 3/8" long. Squeezed it using the #8 male die in front, and on the other side of the skin and the K1100 nutplate, my homemade spacer and a flat set behind. Got a real nice looking #8 dimple. The spacer prevented any damage to the rear end of the nutplate threads. Squeezing the rivet hole for an AN426 rivet was no problem with the normal dimple set. The picture shows the components.
Prepped and deburred the upper forward fuselage skin. I used the Cleaveland edge break tool to curve the forward edge of the skin. Screwed the skin in place. The Cleaveland tool put a very minor bevel on the forward edge and it fit nice and tight. Thought I might have to remove it and add a little more, but, did not.
Riveted the nutplates to the panel attach strips. Then went to install them. The plans assume you will know the rivet locations also need to be dimpled as the upper forward skin has already been dimpled. This is not a specific step in the plans. After dimpling, installation went well.
Then started on the mapbox. Wouldn't you know. I did not open the mapbox kit to inventory every part when the fuselage kit arrived. This is the only bag I did not open. I am missing one-half of the mapbox. Called Van's and it is coming. Nevertheless I was able to get the hard steps out of the way.
Because the hinges are not drilled, I resorted to duct tape to trial fit the pieces. I did not want the hinge to show. After duct taping the parts together, it became obvious that the hinge MUST show on the lower part of the mapbox edge. I really do not like the way it looks, but, there is no way to get around it with the parts supplied.
The mapbox instructions leave a lot for the imagination. I started with one hinge half and drilled one pilot hole (on the right hand side) 1/4" from the end and the face as per Figure 2. I then cleco'd the one hole to the lower portion of the mapbox half. Then lined the hinge half parallel with the edge of the mapbox. Clamped the hinge half in place with a small c-clamp and match drilled the hinge half thru the bottom of the mapbox. Cleco as you drill and ensure nothing has shifted.
I then drilled the mapbox door per the dimensions in Figure 2 on page 29-06. Attached the other undrilled hinge half with the hinge pin. Placed the mapbox door over the opening and duct taped the hinge half to the mapbox door. With a little experimentation, I was able to get it to fit such that it was tight when closed, no gaps on the left and right side and it stopped in the horizontal position when opened. Then duct taped the front of the mapbox door to hold everything in place. Carefully match drilled thru the mapbox door then thru the hinge half. Cleco'd and ensured nothing shifted as I drilled.
Ended up with perfect hinge positioning. Did NOT need to use any shims. If the hinge half's are pre-drilled per Figure 2 I can now see why spacers might be required, or the holes may need to be "fudged" as stated in the plans.
The remaining steps for the mapbox will have to wait until I receive the top mapbox half.
Time Today - 6 hours
