Monthly Archives: November 2013

Wings 8 (4.0 hrs)

This entry was posted in Wings Wings - Structure on November 10, 2013 by Peter

Happy 238th Marine Corps Birthday Marines, and Semper Fidelis!

Today, I drilled the wing walk doublers and clecoed the top skins to the skeleton. I had enough clecos to do the top of the left wing and half of the top on the right wing. I called Jack Savage, and he agreed to lend me his clecos. He’s got a ton, and I should be able to cleco all 8 skins. Unfortunately, I forgot that I also still need 8 pesky AN426AD3-7 rivets to complete the second tie down bracket! I guarantee Jack would have some handy, so I was fairly pissed when I remembered.

It might not seem like much got done, but that is a lot of clecos to install!

I hung the bottom skins, but only did part of the clecoing. Tomorrow was a light day in the shop. Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day and I have off work, so I’ll make a fair amount of progress.

Wings 7 (2.0 hrs)

This entry was posted in Wings Wings - Structure on November 4, 2013 by Peter

I finished one of the two tie down brackets tonight. The picture below shows the completed tie down bracket after I installed and torqued the bolts. Unfortunately I could not finish the other tie down bracket because I’m out of AN426 3-7 rivets. I will have to steal some from another builder or have some sent in my next batch of items from Van’s. It will be awhile before I’m not able to access that part of the plane so I’ve got time.

Here is the other bracket waiting for rivets…

After the brackets were complete, I set about measuring and cutting the wing walk doublers. I used a set of tin snips my buddy Denny got for me and then a file to make the dimensions as close to perfect as possible. I’m a visual person and I had a pretty good idea how the doublers were installed, but since the skins are next, I started hanging the top skins to check the doubler and gain an understanding of how everything is fitting together.

Here is one of the two wing walk doublers I made tonight. All in all a good night in the shop. On a side note, my wife Maria got her US citizenship today!!!

Wings 6 (12.0 hrs)

This entry was posted in Wings Wings - Structure on November 4, 2013 by Peter

Not a lot of pictures or proper updating for the blog this weekend. I’ve combined two sessions into one post.

On Saturday, Jack Savage agreed to help me rivet the spars and ribs together. One person can do it, but it is much quicker and easier to do it with two people. One person is fairly likely to make a mistake too.

On Sunday, I made sure the wings were perfectly true using the digital level and some plumb bobs. This required the installation of the bottom brackets to hold the wing in proper position. I will probably check everything again before drilling and riveting skins. I figure the more detailed I am about this now, the less likely I am to have a problem down the road. I also remade the tie down brackets. After fabrication, I primed them with the self etching primer in a can I bought for just such occasions. I was dismayed to learn however, that I do not have enough of the AN426 3-7 rivets required for installation. No worries. I will finish what I can and order some from Van’s. I have a list of other things I need to order anyways. (Like proseal for the tanks!)