CHAPTER 51 - Vents and Rudders

Photo 1 shows where I took the vent template and laid it out on the fuselage skin. Then I looked at it. And looked at it. You can't imagine how difficult it was to dril that first hole in that beautiful skin. However, I finally bit the bullet and drilled a large hole in the opening using a unibit. I then worked the outline using a nibbler and finished off with file and emerycloth. The second photo shows the result after the vent body was drilled to the fuselage and the third photo is the inside view.

While I was working up front, I assembled the brake pedals to the rudder pedal assembly and then clamped and drilled the assembly in place (photo 4). After that I used the same hi-temp RTV that I used on the firewall and glued the vent bodies into place. They had been gently countersunk using a hand deburring tool and the skin was dimpled. All that remained was to pop-rivet them in place with CS4-4 rivets and aluminum tab washers to keep the rivets from pulling back through (last photo).