Today I started with riveting the right wings aileron brackets.  This required me to do a quick countersink for the rivets closest to the bearings.  The flush side of the 426 rivets should be towards the outboard wing tips.  Then I placed the bearings in place and riveted the brackets.  This took some finesse as the AD426 4-11’s are long!  I had to play with several setups before I found a yoke and rivet set combination that could go allow enough space. 

I slightly over-countersunk one rivet.  Its not drastic enough that I feel compelled to replace the part. I really hate the original countersinks I have.  I’ll try to post a photo comparison of the different countersinks. 

Then I set up my saw horses, a large piece of plywood and a blanket as my make-shift table for the right wing. 

Its been way too long since I riveted the top skins.  The past six months have been really slow!!!! I need to be in the shop more. I used the mushroom swivel set and a tungsten bucking bar to make quick work of the rear spar.  Only a couple mistakes along the way. 

I had a previous error from dimpling the rear spar. This required a reinforcement bracket and an oops rivet, both shown below. I’m really happy with how it came out.  You can see that mistake and solution here, in the post titled Wings 17 from March of this year. 

The completed riveting job.  I’m very happy with the results. 

Next up, it was time to rivet the aileron brackets to the rear spar.  This was a pain in the ass.  It took quite a lot of force to get these rivets to buck. 

After completing the riveting for the aileron brackets, I clecoed the flap brace and aileron gap fairing in place. 

My final task for the night was to rivet the aileron gap fairing to the rear spar.  Quick work. I finished out the night with a good shop cleanup. 

As I was cleaning and organizing the hangar today, I also set about priming the aileron gap fairings, flap braces, and aileron hinge brackets for both wings. With my hangar mate’s airplane still in the other hangar this was the perfect opportunity to prime without having to take the parts off the airport. Not much to tell. I used the same technique as always… scuff the surface lightly with a scotchbrite pad, clean with acetone, and prime.

This is a good picture of both the priming and the new shop setup. 

This is a good picture of

First day back in the shop for awhile. I’ve been doing a fair amount of travel for work.  Two weeks in Las Vegas, and a couple trips to Pittsburgh have prevented any work on the plane. Additionally, my MBA classes have started back up in the evening. It is very frustrating not being able to find more time to work on the project. In other news, I will be moving hangars!  A hangar with an all concrete floor opened up in one of the privately owned hangar buildings.  Its essentially the same size and faces West.  The best part… its cheaper too!  I plan to be moved in by December 1st.

Today I set about completing the flap and aileron gap fairings / brace for the right wing.  Additionally, I added conduit to the right wing, and removed both tanks.  There really isn’t too much to say.

Just as before I had two rivets that I had installed prematurely.  I had to drill them out the reverse way of normal, starting with the shop head.  To do this, I use a center punch to make the center, and then I use that and a countersink deburring tool to get a nice even centered divot started. Then I simply drilled straight through.  Both rivets came out fairly well without any enlargement. 

Next I cut the flap brace to fit the rear spar reinforcement angles. 

I forgot to take pictures of the process I used to remove the fuel tank.  If you’ve ever installed laminate floor… you know the process.  I actually used an old piece of laminate floor I had in the shop to abut the trailing edge of the tank and then with Jack holding the tank, I used my dead blow hammer to gently nudge the tanks off.