The first part of this section involves bending the F-1046-L/R longerons to match the curve of a template provided in the kit. The idea is to put the aluminum angle into a vise, preload it with one hand and strike it with a rubber mallet with the other hand. Doing this many times along the length of the longeron is supposed to create a smooth bend that should match the curve of the template. It took some practice to get the forces correct and figure out which areas needed more or less bending to get it to match, but by the end of this process I think I have a method figured out. I'll probably want to go back to the F-1046-R longeron (the first of the two that I worked on) and give it a once-over again... it's close to correct but I think I can do better. It's a somewhat tedious process that requires a lot of patience!
Sarah had some free time tonight too, so we were able to get started on riveting the parts of the bottom skins that required two people. In order to reach the top side of the rivets with the back-riveting gun, she had to climb into the airplane, which in itself is a pretty cool milestone. This made for really the only photo-op of the evening:
The first human to sit inside the fuselage!
After a quick session of back-riveting, we got about halfway through them all. We started with the most difficult-to-reach ones though, so hopefully the second half goes smoothly tomorrow (or whenever we can get back to it).
That's pretty much it for today, didn't get too far with Section 29 yet but I'm sure that will change in the coming days. Also can't wait for OSH15!