Jason builds a plane

Slow and steady wins the ?

3/10/2021

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Race - the answer is Race.(not sure at my current pace what place I'll come in, but still progressing).

Although things are still progressing on the plane, there isn't much to share that you haven't already seen.  This wing is obviously a mirror image of the first, with very few differences that are yet to be addressed.  I've also been busy with projects outside of the build which have kept me away from the shop more than I would like.   Summer is coming to a close and winter is not far behind, so more shop time is likely (I hate the cold of winter.... maybe hate is too strong a word but whatever).

With the rear channel now in place and riveted to the rest of the skeleton, I took the upper skin off for debur and to check and rivet the main and nose ribs.

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It pays to double check every thing.  On the inner wing tank rib, I "figure eighted" a hole when back drilling the upper root skin.  It's easy to do, just was very disappointed to make this mistake.

I originally planned to replace the entire rib, which would mean starting from a blank, forming the rib on blocks, cutting and flanging lightening holes, the works.  Not to mention removing the damaged rib from the skeleton by drilling out the rivets, etc.  In consultation with Ron, we decided a doubler L epoxied to the inside of the rib flange would be a suitable and easier repair.  That took a couple of hours to make up, but the results are strong and acceptable - also much better than making an entirely new rib!
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Drilled out the tie down ring and match drilled it to the nose rib:
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Upper wing skins final riveted to the ribs.  When I flipped the other wing over, I noticed the square tubing left scuff marks on the skins despite having masking tape on them.  I decided to mask the skins where they will contact the tubes when this wing is flipped over to try and alleviate the issue this time around:
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Flipped the wing over on the bench and squared everything up with a level (pic is before levelling):
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With the spar now perfectly vertical and the skeleton evenly supported from below, I laid out the rivet line in the lower main spar using the shop LONG straight edge.  Also rivetted the nose ribs to the spar:
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Pulled a fresh 12 foot roll of 020 and cut out the inboard lower skin.  Rolling it out on top of the skeleton it was nice to see a good square fit on the wing frame:
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Flash forward a bit, the lower skin is in place, as are the flapperon arms and requisite slots in the lower skin:
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The outboard lower skin was next.
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Outboard lower skin complete with stiffening L.  Trimming the end to match the wing tip will come once the wingtip is fitted:
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All ribs and lower skin drilled out to A4 with the exception of the lower root rib:
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Way back, I made up 2 root rib splice plates while I had a couple of scraps of 025.  I put them away in my bin for when I got to the wings but apparently I lost track of them.  When doing the first wing, I had forgotten them so made up the one I needed at the time.  Low and behold today I found the pair I made way back when.  Today I added the second one.  That's the way it goes with scratch building and small parts I suppose.
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Pulled the flapperons/skin support angles, slat supports/support angles and the root rib doubler from the skeleton, deburred them and cleaned them up for priming:
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Grey self etching primer complete, these parts will be riveted to the wing soon:
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Progress is progress, even if slow.  Thanks Mr Tortoise for the valuable lesson.

More to come including debur of the lower skin and fabrication of the pitot/static probes.  Thanks as always for following along :)
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    Husband, father and 911 dispatcher.  Long time pilot with a licence that burns a hole in my pocket where my student loan money used to be.  First time aircraft builder. Looking to fly my own airplane.

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