Upper Wing Skin Fit Check

After flipping the wing back to normal, I started clecoing down the top skins. The inboard skin seems to fit fine, but the outboard skin doesn’t look right – there are ripples when I cleco it down. I had similar fit issues with the other wing, so I’ll have...

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″...

Undercarriage Channel

Fresh back from a week of vacation on Cape Cod, I resumed work on the center fuselage. On Sunday I worked on page E3, which assembles the rear bottom assembly, undercarriage channel, and main spar assembly onto the bottom skins. Quite a few big and substantial assemblies here, but...

Rear Floor Assembly

I started fitting all the ribs I primed this past weekend to the rear spar carry-through assembly and floor skin. The fuselage is beginning to take shape!...

Center Fuselage Parts

In and around holiday events this past weekend I was able to put in a few hours on center fuselage parts. Not much to show, other than a bunch of floor ribs that have been cleaned and primed. Speaking of priming – I found that I spend a lot...

Rear Fuselage Progress

I was able to log quite a few hours this past weekend, working mainly on the rear fuselage. First, I finished assembly of the tailcone, which is fairly beefy since the empennage control surfaces attach to it. Some rivets were a little tricky to set due to limited room....

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...