Antennas and Autopilot Servo

We started the weekend with a riveting experience out in the Garage. J    Bekah was able to climb under the plane and shoot rivets while I bucked to finish off the antenna doublers.  We found it a bit challenging after noticing a couple rivets were driven crocked.   Initially no clue as to why this was happening since we clearly should be experts by this stage in the project.  But just like everything in aviation, you are always learning.   We discovered that since the doubler was on a softer part of the skin with no sub structure support behind, that the skin was able to flex a bit while riveting.   In the end we had to really support the structure with my hand while we finished up the riveting.   Replaced the defective rivets and all is good.

 After that I spent some time working on the wiring in the central section just behind the baggage compartment.   Cleaned up the wiring pretty significantly, reworked the ELT, and also connected the autopilot “pitch” servo.   I am feeling pretty good about this section now and actually don’t have much more to do except get the push-rods in and torque everything.  At this point the rear top skin is within striking distance.  I’ll continue to wait for a while to make sure I am completely done with everything in this section.