Jason builds a plane

wing tip in, root nose skin fit-up

23/5/2021

1 Comment

 
Got some time in the shop this past week.  Here is the latest on the right wing.

Upper main skins, upper nose skins and top side trailing edges are sealed up for storage.  This means two temporary rivets in each bay to hold everything together until I re-open it for inspection at a later date.

Also created and installed the curved attach angle for the upper root rib.  You may recall from a previous post that the design changed in this area since my plans were issued, however I hadn't seen any update from Zenith.  This meant creating a work-around with a curved L bracket, I pleased this will create a much better curved surface for attaching the root skins.
Picture
Picture

Flipped the wing over to access the lower skins and final rivet them:
Picture

The bottom of the wing is almost all final riveted closed, very happy how it looks, but still needs some cleaning and light wet sanding to remove some light scratches:
Picture
Picture

Jury strut attachment brackets are now firmly in place on the spars/ribs:
Picture
Picture

Here is the rear strut pickup and 3rd flapperon arm.  This joint area really turned out nicely.  Still need to rivet the trailing edge joint where they overlap:
Picture

I purposely left the lower outboard wing skin un-rivetted so I can have un-fettered access to the wing tip area for fit up and final attachment:
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Measured up the rivet line for the front wingtip attach bracket and drilled out to A3:
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Wing tip in place, with the lower outboard skin in place to check alignment:
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Picture

With the wingtip in place, I discovered that the rear channel attach bracket wasn't sitting flush against the wingtip.  I re-fabricated a new one to match correctly (pic is of original):
Picture

With the tip in place again and the lower skin removed, I marked the location of the rivet holes from inside through the spar and rear channel brackets.  Then I removed the tip form the wing, back drilled at the marks up to A3.  I added a strip of masking tape where the holes are to protect and prevent cracking of the plastic and placed the wingtip back in position and fastened with clecos:
Picture

Lower skin back on, drilled the outboard edge to A3 and cleco.  I won't be final drilling these up to A4 until the wingtip lights and wiring are done, probably just before inspection.  Trailing edge has since been trimmed to match since picture was taken:
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At the root end of the wing, I started making up the template for the nose root skin.  I had originally cut the actual skin from 016 based directly on the measurements in the plans.  But noticed when I went to fit it, I had made a critical cutting mistake near the spar attachment and I wasn't happy with the overall fit anyhow, so it goes to the scrap bin for other small parts. 

Making a cardstock template from the plans with a bit extra on the edges allows much easier fit up.  with some masking tape backing on the edges, the template can actually be clecoed to the wing.  Initial stages of fit-up are very promising, the final template will be transferred to a fresh piece of 016 for the final piece, once I trim it perfectly.
Picture

Almost there, many MANY small steps along the way.  In the next week I should be able to put this wing into storage and start work on the left wing.  Testing continues on lighting and fuel sensors.

Thanks for following along.  Onwards..... 
1 Comment
Dad
26/5/2021 07:07:40 pm

Great details explained so well.... photos really show that and the progress you're making.... can't wait to see what you've accomplished so far.... keep on....

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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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