Fit middle 972B stiffeners and 972 bottom forward skin. In the process, discovered why the bottom forward rivet on the 904 bulkhead is a blind rivet. I had pre-riveted this along with the other 970/904H inner rivets. Doh! The 972 skin goes there. Once the 970 is installed, a blind rivet is the only way to do that last rivet. To add insult to injury, the narrative even mentions it. Double Doh!
So I had to drill out two rivets, one on each side. Bunged up the first one pretty good. On the second, I remembered a rivet removal drill attachment I bought at Oshkosh. Got it out, setup, drilled out the second rivet. Quick, painless, perfect. Money well spent. I've drilled out a bunch of rivets recently and keep forgeting about this. It'll stay out and visible for the rest of the fuselage riveting.
Once it was clecoed in place (to line everything up and make sure it all still fits well), turned around and removed the 972 skin in order to rivet the middle 972B stiffeners to the assembly. You would think the pneumatic squeezer would be OK. But no, for some reason it decided to be wimpy and not squeeze the rivets at all. The hand squeezer could really only reach two of the 12. So I had to buck the rest, which required crawling under and into the forward section, in tight quarters. I guess I better get used to it. Those 12 middle 972B end rivets look deceptively easy. Don't be fooled, they're a pain in the patoote.
