Baggage Compartment and tail cone

I have been working on installing all of the baggage ribs and false bulkheads. Getting all of the parts to line up and intersect on the side wall is a PITA. I had to order and extra bulkhead because I cut too much out of the first one. You have to intersect the side bulkhead and side rib. Not easy to do and it's kind of a bash to fit paint to match process.

All of that is done now and I have pulled everything apart and deburred all of the holes. Then I primed everything and riveted it all back together. This completes the cabin structure and now it's time to start in on the tail.

Since the baggage bulkhead is now in place, I can work on the tail. You need two points of the cone, the beginning and the end. The baggage bulkhead is the start and the tail bulkhead F-612 is the end of the cone. I mounted F-612 and got it on centerline and plumb. Then I run two stringlines on each side of the bulkhead and mount F-611, which is the next bulkhead forward. I use the stringlines to help me line up F-611 with the angle of the cone. I get this one on center and plumb as well.

F-611 and F-612 have a tail wheel socket that is mounted between them since I am building a RV-6.
The mount has two parallel flanges that get holes drilled in them to mount them to each bulkhead. I have seen these flanges not get welded up correctly during fabrication and this makes your two bulkheads skewed. Luckily, mine is ok and after I drilled it all and bolted it in place, my two bulkheads are pretty close to parallel from one another. You also have to stringline the tail wheel spring so it is in the centerline of the airplane. You don't want this thing sticking off to one side as it will affect how the airplane taxies on the ground. It will also stick out like a sore thumb if you are looking at the tail of the airplane.

Now that the tail wheel mount is in place, I am working on getting the other bulkheads in the tail cone installed. I have to stringline the main longeron between the F-611 and F-607. I will get these two longerons perfectly straight and level. Then I can make the bulkheads fit each station by shimming them forward if needed. You don't want to try and just install the bulkhead at each station according to plans. If you do this, you will have waves down the side of the fuselage and it will look bad. It sounds bad not to follow the plans but you are hand building a airplane anyways so you do what you have to do to make things work out and fit right.