Category: Wings

Skin Fit Check

After working on the ribs so that their flanges were as flush as possible, it’s time to check with skins on and make sure they lie flat. I flipped the wing over and temporarily attached bottom skins, next I’ll flip again to do the top skins....

Right Wing Frame

The right wing is coming along nicely. I prepared most of the parts (cleaning, deburring, priming) for both wings at the same time last year, so this one is coming together faster. It’s amazing though, nearly a year has passed since I was working on the same steps on...

Right Wing Build Underway, Big Announcement Today at Oshkosh

I received a replacement right wing rear spar earlier this week so now the wing can get built up. Perry from TAF came up with “quite the contraption” (as he called it) to ensure it made its way to NH undamaged – it’s mostly a long piece of 6″...

Right Wing Skins and Starting Fuselage Assembly

I consulted TAF about my damaged rear wing spar, and they advised against repairing it so they will send me a new one. That limits how much I can do on right wing assembly for now, but we had some nice weather this weekend so I decided to prime...

Fuselage Skin Rack

As I started inventorying the fuselage skins, I realized that I didn’t have a good place to put them. I found some unused space above my garage door and improvised a shelf out of reclaimed wood from the shipping containers for the wing and empennage. I’m now complete with...

Left Wing Done For Now

I spent 6.8 hours on Sunday installing the wing step skin, and then filling the remaining rivet holes with spackle and sanding them smooth. With these two items done, my left wing is complete for now, minus a few additional tasks (such as mounting the wing tip and wing...

Wing Rack, and Step Skin Solution

I put together a wing rack this week following plans from an EAA article. I had most of the material already, so it didn’t cost much – the straight sections are 2×4, 2×6, or 4×4 pieces of lumber I had laying around, while the gussets were made out of...

Finishing Aileron; Wing Step Skin Try 2

I had a heck of a time getting the aileron to line up properly with the trailing edge of the wing and the flap. I wound up using a technique that involved putting some tape on the skin overlap, twisting the aileron by hand while on the wing, taking...

Aileron Alignment

As I’ve posted previously, I’m trying to be proactive about ensuring the aileron trailing edge lines up with the rest of the wing. I decided to re-use the same trick I used for the elevator & horizontal stab: assemble the part in-place, using clamps to set the assembly straight....

Left Wing End Rib

1 hour last night riveting the end rib to the left wing. It’s amazing how much stiffer the wingtip feels after riveting this rib in place. Pascal L. recommended a trick to check alignment of the trailing edge using a string. I haven’t done the aileron yet, but it...