Just like the QB Wings, a lot of the work is already complete once the QB fuselage shows up. However, I can't stress enough the need to QC every step that they complete at the factory prior to deliver. The ELT bracket needs to be installed and the lower gear braces need to be installed. Those steps are buried within the earlier steps and easy to miss.
The real fun starts in Section 30, Aft Fuselage Attachment. Prep of the aft section bulkheads is pretty straight forward. However, getting these bulkheads into place once the aft fuselage is joined with the forward section takes a little extra time and care. And also a rubber mallet.
I used a few sawhorses, as described in the plans, to get everything lined up. The joining of these two pieces required two additional helpers. One on each side at the joint, and one to lift and push near the aft part of the tailcone. The tabs of the tailcone need to be "massaged" and lightly manipulated inside of the forward fuselage, but everything lines up well once you have the correct angle.
CAUTION: There are temporary pop rivets in the aft part of the forward fuselage to prevent damage during shipment once leaving the factory. If you forget to drill these out prior to trying to join the tailcone with the forward fuselage, your plight will end in tears and frustration. Drill out these pop rivets before you get too far. There are at least 10 of them, so look carefully at where the flush rivets end, there was usually one immediately following the flush rivet and then another in the last hole prior to the end of the skin.
I don't normally mind pop riveting, especially with a pneumatic tool, but installing the baggage floors and side panels involved a TON of LP4-3 rivets. Wow. I was pretty tired of leaning over the side of the fuselage by the time these were done.
Like fiberglass, I was pretty intimidated by the fuel system installation. I've never worked with aluminum tubing nor flaring and bending of the ends. I bought a a RIDGID 37-degree flaring tool which was very easy to use once I figured out how much of the tube to insert into the tool. The first one I tried didn't allow the aluminum nut to get around the flare, so I had to back off a little bit.
The second issue was bending of the tubes. The plans are pretty clear on this, but it took some time to get used to my bending tool and where the "start bend" lines needed to be in the tool to get an effective placement of the beginning of the radius. There were enough errors in my attempts that I had to order more tubing from Vans. I ended up getting another 6' of tubing for about $20 including shipping. Worth the expense to make sure that I was happy with the results for such a critical system.
The longer sections of tubing that leave the selector and go to each of the wings came out well in the end. Getting the nuts tight in the confined spaces required an 11/16" crows foot in between the sidewalls.
Here are a few of the failed attempts, which then allowed me to practice some more before more tubing arrived.
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