Jason builds a plane

Right wing heading for storage

27/6/2021

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I haven't been getting to the shop as much as I would like (or need) lately.  Work has been so busy that by the end of the day I have little energy left for shop.  When I've made it there, I've been slowly plugging away at all the little detail items in hopes of getting the wing off the build table and into storage.

I mentioned in a previous blog post that I wasn't happy with the pulled A5 rivet on the front strut pick-up that the plans call for.  A standard A5 wasn't long enough to pass through the strut attach plate and support angle - once pulled the rivet tail won't expand enough to be acceptable in my opinion.  So instead I drove a bucked rivet here instead.
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​It was a bit of a trick to buck the rivet in the tight space, but it turned out very well.
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Continued working on the nose root skin using a card-stock template.  I also spent some time lightly sanding out some minor surface scratches on the skins caused by moving the wing back and forth on the bench.
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I've temporarily fastened the top wing root skin to the new curved angle on top of the spar root (see previous blog for further information).  This additional angle works nicely to round out the upper root skin.
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The cardstock template is a bunch easier to round out and shape the nose root skin.  The nose root skin is only 016 aluminum, but is the most complex curve of the entire build and a tight fitting bend.  I've got it started, but it doesn't get final fit until the wings are attached to the fuselage - it meets the cabin roof and windshield here so it's important to have them mated up before final trimming and install.  This will be done later.
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The weather has also been really wet during June, so although the wing is technically ready to be moved to storage I've been waiting for a nice day to do so and have enough hands to help.  Ron is nursing a hand injury, his spouse Donna is recovering from a broken wrist and Brenda and the girls are busy too.

In the meantime, I got started on the ribs for the second wing.  After doing the first set for the left wing using a combination of boards and cardstock templates (which worked well), I decided to try a different method (both work equally well, this second method seems to have gone faster).

Set up the bench edge as my template.  The edge of the bench represents the lower wing skin, the board fastened to the bench represents the wing spar.  I made sure the board is 90 degrees to the horizontal.  They are kinda faint in the picture, but the blue vertical lines to the left of the nose ribs are my keypoint lines - where the slat support lines up/attaches to the rib:
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With the slat attachment clecoed in place to the bench and the rib clamped down, backdrill through the rib the required 6 rivet holes.  Then add the nose skin support L (I did these the same way as the first wing).  Repear the process for nose ribs 3, 4 and 6 (four in total):
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Next up was the flapperon arms.  I used the same principal for these.  It starts with matching holes at the trailing end of the arm for all four:
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Obviously, the main wing ribs are longer and the flapperon arm protrudes below the lower skin horizontal plane.  As a result, I have to extend the "bench edge" upwards with a spacer board.  Like the right wing, the flanges on the first rib face opposite than the others, making room for the fuel tank bay:
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The spacer I chose left me just enough room at the table edge to fasten the flapperon arm.  Clamping it down and the rib:
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To make the rivet holes consistent, I laid out a piece of card-stock and placed it inside the rib directly over where the flapperon arm gets attached:
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Repeat the process for main ribs 3, 4 and 6:
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Add the skin support Ls:
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  Rib assemblies for wing number 2 complete! 
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That's it for this blog entry.  More to come, thanks for sticking with me.
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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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