8 hours with my missy
Spent quite a bit of time today working with wood... made two mobile wing stands and a trailing edge bending jig - 3 hours, then cleaned up a couple of loose ends with the rudder and vertical stabilizer - 1 hour, and finally got to some new construction work on the elevators - 4 hours.
Completed the fabrication, preparation, and priming of all 29 stiffeners... tomorrow we rivet!
we will build both wings at the same time. these stands will hold the framework as it is assembled and skinned.
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| one of the wing stand, another in pieces on the ground |
The wing stand sill needs some end gussets and hardware to hang the wing. The center section of the beam has a bottom to allow for storage.
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| making a bending break... much later I made another and used more hinges and longer pieces of wood |
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| bending break test fit for the elevator |
Although this break worked fine for the elevator it was marginal for the ailerons. The bending break MUST be wider than the piece to be bent or you will introduce some minor creasing no matter how careful you are... use the best quality wood that you can find, very true and solid, and use more hinges than you think that you need. Much later I rebuilt one of my ailerons and made up a far superior break than this one.
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| Missy likes removing the blue plastic |
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| two wing stands ready for action |
Using two wing stands to construct both wings at the same time turned out to be great. When both wings were completed I turned one of these stands into a mobile wing cradle that made storage and transport of the wings to the airport a snap. When the wings were mated to the fuselage for good the cradle went to another builder and is still in use today :)
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| nice shot of the shop |
