The long and tedious deburring and dimpling begins with the center fuselage. Not too many holes, but I had to modify two ribs I had forgotten for wire snap bushings.

First I installed the stiffeners in the bagage compartment, one horizontally and one vertically.



Then I installed the covers, the one in the back will be riveted and the other will be bolted on to allow access to the flaps mechanism (the flaps tube will pass through the opening on the right).



Then I finished drilling all the holes on the forward fuselage, before beginning the steps installtion process. First you have to drill the mounting plate according to the template in the plan, and then backdrill the holes on the fuselage. Sabine gave a hand during the latter operation.



Here is the left side, the second row of rivets from the right seems slightly misaligned, this is to be sure the rivets are on the stiffener on the inside of the fuselage. The upper left corner of the mounting plate will be trimmed and twisted to folle the fuselage curvature. I still have to finish inside fuselage part of the step install.

This morning we finished the riveting of the lower skin of the center fuselage, we also put back all the floors.

My parents are staying a few days with us so may dad can help me rivet the fuselage.
In two hours we managed to finish three quarters of the center fuselage.

After the Vans Club de France fly-in in Nuits Saint Georges (see Meetings section), back to the center fuselage assembly. I got an answer from Vans about my problem with the seat ribs, they just tell me to insert a washer. To be on the safe side I adapted a bigger diameter washer, here is the picture before priming. I know need a longer bolt but haven't got enough of them, another order in the pipeline.



Then I riveted all the remaining rivets on the skeleton before clecoing the skin. The riveting of the skin is postponed till I get a helper.