a good friday on good friday in the shop

Easter weekend is here already.  This CoVid BS is getting real tiring, but at least the nicer weather is here.

Spent a "Good Friday" in the shop, working on the right wing.  I was going to leave the rear root doubler clecoed in place and finalize it later, but I decided the fuel routing can still be done with it in place.  I staggered the clecos and pulled the last of the A5 rivets in the rear channel face:

I final riveted the root nose rib into place and added the splice plate.  I also final torqued the spar pick-up plate bolts:

I added and final torqued the wing strut attach angle bolts top and bottom where they go through the spar caps.  The first picture shows the A4-7 bolts that hold the spar pick up attachment that are yet to be installed (I put them there to remind me they are coming up soon):

With the bolts all installed along the fron spar, I reattached the lower skins in preparation for final rivets, including the freshly primed wing stiffeners  -I won't be rolling the lower skins anymore, this is final assembly on the wing skeleton:

Couldn't resist adding in the wing tip again to see how it's going to look and also figure out the trailing edge:

I'll have to do some more thinking on how to trim this up.  There is a large bulge at the trailing edge that will need to be trimmed away, but it's hollow so I want to make sure trimming it way isn't going to compromise it's integrity going forward or lead to cracking:

It's extra work, but I like to put clecos in any holes along a line of rivets that need to wait for a rivet.  It's a good reminder to think twice before pulling a rivet too soon in the process that would have to be drilled out later:

All the rivets along the rib lines and wing stiffener lines are done.  I left the perimeter of the skin at the main spar and along the trailing edge joint open as well as anything close to those as I may need the flexibility to reinstall the trailing edge where it tucks under the main skin.

Next up were the nose skins.  These need to be attached permanently as all the front strut attachments are riveted through them, the skins and the spar.

Strut support angle clecoed in place.  The hole where the strut pickup comes through the skin was already deburred at this point (I forgot to erase my Sharpie note).  This is a complicated joint which takes some thinking about order of operations to ensure rivets are done while the holes are exposed.

I clecoed the strut doubler in place and I got the two A4 rivets and the A5 spar rivet in the support angle done before adding the strut pickup and several others towards the rear.  Those two just in front of the spar line would be impossible to reach if the strut pick-up was bolted in place as well as the A5 on the angle to the left of them:

I slid the strut pick-up through the skin from the outside and had to carefully curl the skin back with a piece of twine to provide the work room to add the pick-up bolts.  The topmost bolt in the picture needs to feed the other way through the hole, otherwise the nut and tail of the bolt won't clear the skin when it lays flat.  These were then torqued to spec:

With the skin laid back down and riveted to the spar, I realized I should have done the other A5 rivets close to the spar pick-up.  It's way to narrow to get any rivet puller in there:

Only two A5 rivets had this issue, so I pulled them in the opposite direction.  Not ideal, but perfectly acceptable solution (I'll mark that down so the other wing looks the same!).  I also pulled the single A5 rivet just below the strut pick up hole - I think it might need to be replaced, I'm not sure it's long enough for a complete grip, maybe I'll up-size the hole to A6 here:

Really happy how this assembly turned out- tight and just like the plans describe.

​The slot I cut in the trailing edge to go over the rear strut pick-up worked perfectly as well, but is a real pain to to slide over the rear pick-up AND tuck under the main skin - it's just to tight to do easily.  I think I will be permanently attaching the trailing edge as well.  Adjustment up and down can be made when the top side of the trailing edge is tucked under the top skin.  There should be enough room to work in there from above for the fuel line routing as well:

​With the nose skin in place, I can add the front jury strut pick-up:

Finished of the spar line rivets:

Pulled the A4 rivets on the lower side of the nose skin into the nose ribs where I could.

The wing is really starting to feel solid!  The front lower corner in the picture is where the wing root nose skin will reside.  It will be done after the top of the wing is completed.

I've decided to hold off a little longer on the outboard skin and the outboard nose skin until I can get a better idea on the trim and finish of the wing tip.  I still need to trim the outboard end of the trailing edge skin to match as well.

Overall a mostly productive day, inching ever closer to the point I can flip this wing back over the way it should be and start the final processes to close it up for storage.

Thanks for following along, more to come over this long Easter weekend.