14 Apr 2023

Decided to select long range fuel tanks, which are optional extras. Minor build change required at this stage is to rivet the leading edges of ribs 11-13 to the main spar without the lead edge ribs 102, 103 and 104 as well as drilling out 4 holes to 5.5mm to accommodate brackets for the fuel tank mounting. Completed that riveting and drilled out the necessary holes as indicated on the KAI.

Noted a number of issues on sheet 15 of the KAI version 6.4: no rivets are indicated for rib 10 to secure it to the main spar; no rivets are indicated in the KAI to secure the front sides of ribs 6-13 to the vertical channels pre-installed on the main spar (critical omission - it's easy to not realise this needs to be done, I only realised it when looking closely at the structure and wondering why the channels were mounted with holes corresponding to the ribs but there were no instructions to rivet them); I'm missing part number 4 and rivet 993 which is a channel to secure the fuel tank to the main spar - but I'm not sure if it's just a hangover in the KAI from the previous smaller tanks and no longer required (and I suspect this is also why the rivet details for rib 10 are missing - the smaller tanks required a leading edge rib before which is shown on sheet 19 but nowhere else). After contacting the factory, I went with part number 995 rivets for rib 10 and the sides of ribs 6-13.

Riveted the trailing edge ribs in place. The top rivet on each is very difficult to install. I ground the tip of a manual rivet gun, but it still wasn't small enough and required more brute force encouragement to get it to fit than I was really comfortable with, but it worked. The rivet mandrels for the 4.8mm rivets are pretty thick, so using an angle tool doesn't seem feasible. I've only got the tool for smaller rivets anyway.

Riveted the rear spar skin support channel in place.

Installed snap bushings for wiring