Wing Ribs 8 and 9
Finally got back to working on the wings after a 3-week hiatus. I had a big project at work that just wrapped up, and then I spent last week at the EAA Oshkosh 2018 air show! Needless to say, I came back from Airventure very excited to get back to work on my own plane. Can’t wait to show it off in the home-built section in about 2 or 3 years, hopefully!
Rib 8 left and right completed
I completed a few more rib subassemblies this weekend – ribs 8 and 9. Rib 8 was a little more interesting with some moving parts – in this case, a bellcrank assembly for the aileron torque tube that will run through the wing ribs.
Close-up of aileron bellcrank assembly on rib 8
Next up I’ll be assembling ribs to the auxiliary wing spar, so things are about to get pretty big – this spar is just under 12 feet long, and will be closer to 14 feet once I attach the extensions to the end!
Left wing rear (auxiliary) spar getting prepped
I haven’t decided yet whether to prime the spars or not – it will obviously require a different technique since the part won’t fit into my little paint booth. It’s also gonna take a lot of paint, in fact I just had to reorder another case of rattle cans from R&E. In addition to this spar, I’ll have a lot more ribs to prime.
This is also the point where I’ll be doing the two sides in series rather than in parallel – I don’t have space to do both at once, plus I’m waiting on a replacement part from TAF on the right wing. I’ll still prep left and right parts together for now, since they come kitted together, so that should make the right wing go together more quickly (I hope!).