I continued dimpling skins today. I finished up with both side skins as well as the forward bottom skin. I made sure to tape off holes that shouldn't be dimpled. It's far to easy to get rolling and accidentally dimple something that shouldn't be.
The F-904H center section side plate has to be pre-riveted to the side skin due to the fact that some of the rivets won't be accessible after the skin is in place.
As I was dimpling the forward rows of holes in the tailcone (where the center section connects) I realized that I had never riveted the piece of angle to the vertical bellcrank rib, and the rib had yet to be match drilled and riveted to the 706 bulkhead. Way back when these parts were first put together, the instructions specifically said not to rivet them yet. I still haven't really figured out why, except for the fact that leaving them clecoed makes it a little easier to get at all of the holes for dimpling. Regardless, I figured now was as good of a time as any to rivet it all together. I removed the vertical angle so I could drill and rivet the rib to the bulkhead.
Once the rib was riveted in place, I riveted the angle to it.
With that, I think all of the parts are ready for assembly again! I'm sure I'll find some here or there where I missed something. It was a real brain teaser to think through how each piece was connected and figure out the right prep for riveting. I slid the longerons into the tailcone and clecoed them into place with just a few clecos. Each longeron has 6 rivets that go in to hold it all together. The rest of the longeron rivets are left out because they won't be installed until the top skins go on.
The last thing I did today was finish riveting the side skins of the tailcone, all of the way up to the longeron. It was nice to be back to actual construction. Next up will be flipping the tailcone upside down again and getting the center section and firewall attached permanently.
