The Wing kit inside shipping crates
Wing Construction Photos
The Wing kit inside shipping crates
The Wing Cradle. Centre section will hold HS. Made
from Wing Kit shipping crate. End panels are 3/8"
plywood, doubled (to 3/4"), made from top of shipping
crate. Added casters from an old office chair.
Padding is foam sill plate stapled to plywood.
Worth their weight in gold!
Left Wing Photos (and Right Wing Prep) - Start Date January 16, 2003
Countersinking Left Spar for platenuts. I used a piece of aluminum box section as a backing plate when countersinking-- worked very well, but there is a better way, see Tips.
Aft spar components complete. Ready for primering.
Ribs after first stage deburring (smoothing edges with Scotch Brite wheel). Now, on to edge burnishing, lightening hole deburring/burnishing and then all the fiddly bits around the fjords (apologies to the late Douglas Adams).
Ribs, freshly dressed, fluted and straightened... a lot accomplished. Notice the clever use of space... hanging ribs on the HS assembly that is waiting for the MD-RA inspection, so the aft spar is not attached.
Oh rats, there's lots more. There has to be a better way. Maybe I should have built a plastic airplane
Too bad I have to take it all apart now.
Main ribs riveted to spars, skins clecoed in place.
Another view
Leading edge construction
Tank access plate. Note modification to anti-rotation
bracket (slot rather than hole).
Wing skins primered with zinc chromate vinyl wash primer and
expoxy on edges mating to spar.
It's Proseal party time!
Weighing out the tank sealant with home-made balance.
Meccano set is from 1940's (I knew if I held on to it long
enough, it would be useful!)
Actual photo of tank sealant being mixed!
Sealant applied to skins. Looks good now, but...
Blobs on the rivet heads sure look cheesy!
Preliminary leak test. I've chosen not to follow the instructions here-- I figure that sealing the end plate and tank sender now, and testing for leaks while the tank is open is better than sealing the end baffle on first. At least you have a chance to fix any leaks you find. I didn't find any, even around the filler cap. On to sealing the baffle!
After a secondary leak test with the rear baffle on, I had to repair leaks along the baffle-skin and baffle-end rib joints. Luckily, I could get in through the filler cap. On the next tank, I will not follow the instructions-- I'll add extra sealant to the baffle prior to sliding into place. The photo above shows how I did my leak test: I sealed off the vent line with some PVC tubing that is wired in place and clamped off. The balloon is also wired in place. I put two ink marks 1" apart (2.54 cm.) on the balloon. 24 hours later, the balloon was still inflated within 1/32" (about 1 mm.). Temperature changes or diffusion through the latex could easily cause this, so I declared victory and moved on...
A beatiful sight--trial tank fit, left wing. Things are coming together.
Left wing tank attached, top skins riveted on.
Offset, C rivet sets--- absolutely indispensible for
back-riveting wings. I ground a 45 degree flat into the
outside corner of each set and used lots of tape for
protection. Bought them on eBay cheap... highly
recommended. Sets don't have any way to clip into rivet
gun, so I tape them on.
I had to work around the big post. It's not as close to the wing as it looks in the photo. My wife did most of the bucking.
Inboard flap attach bracket, left wing.... very good rivets.
Oops! Drilled in wrong location for middle bracket in left wing and had to patch up.
Middle flap attach, left wing. Realled messed up one rivet and use a 3/16" rivet to fix.
Outboard aileron attach bracket, left wing.
Right Wing Photos - Start Date August 5, 2003
Right wing, aft spar assembling. Securing spar to work bench
with clamps makes riveting much easier.
Spars and ribs riveted; wing skeleton mounted to wing stand and aligned.
Van's mispunched the several rivet holes on the spar (example on far left). Gus says to match drill and dimple the skins and keep going.
View of right wing assembly. Cushion is for kneeling, and clip-on light is for seeing and finding problems, like...
...this! Stiffeners, as cut to plans overlap by two
rivets. Rivet call out shows a three rivet overlap.
Which is correct? It turns out that a two rivet overlap is
correct, and the right stiffener can be shorter than shown in
this photo... just cut to the dimensions shown on the plans.
The dreaded fuel tank (reprise)!
Countersinking with plastic in place. Works fine, just allow for the thickness of the plastic film. I didn't, then I had to drill out a bunch of rivets and countersink deeper.
Right tank stiffeners riveted and sealed. It seemed easier the second time. I cut the end of the popsicle sticks square before using them to apply the sealant.
Preliminary leak test before closing the tank.
Leak test. Marked the balloon with marks 1" apart, noted the date, time, temperature and pressure. After re-seating the fuel drain, the tank was tight. Balloon actually grew 1/16" in 24 hours. Temperature was 76 degrees and SLP was 29.82 after 24 hours.
Sealing the vent. Another balloon would work as well. Note wire around neck of balloon to prevent leaks and keep the balloon from zipping around the shop.
Bubble solution for leak testing. Special bacon flavor for easy clean up (if you have a dog!).
Tank attached, leading edge riveted, setting up for top skin
riveting. Grey primer is Endura epoxy over zinc chromate
vinyl etch primer. Unfortunately, the Epoxy is is brittle
and can flake off when riveting. In future, I'll stick with
just the etch primer.
Double offset back-riveting set is essential for this job. I have a zero offset, a left and right offset, and I ground a 45 degree angle in one tip on each of the offset sets. A whole column of rivets can be done with one set, except the last rivet on the bottom needs to be driven with the opposite offset set.
The top outboard wing skin had obvious oil-canning, so I drilled out all of the peripheral rivets and re-riveted the skin. This is the result. Still some oil-canning, buts it's very slight. Angle of the photo accentuates the effect.
Aligning flap brackets.
Hex screwdriver bit and cleco clamp allows centering of
string.
A cleco at the other end worked well.
Conduit in place.
Mama wing, Papa wing and little baby wing.
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