seeing double double

8 hours

Finished up the rib preparation on the right wing... it takes quite an effort to get a rib ready to hang, and there are 28 of them!  The conduit from vans needs a 13/16 hole and my unibit only went to 3/4 so I had to pick up a larger one at Lowe's; these are pretty pricy and I wish I had started with a #4.

Update - I may be able to make the 3/4 work with a bit of effort in manipulating the plastic conduit through... works!

I spent an hour getting the left elevator back riveted and hope to finish it up this week.

both wings are ready for the next step

priming prep for the last batch of ribs

the computer designed and machined kits, skins and ribs are a perfect match and you can often go right to dimpling 

left elevator skin round two 

all the ribs are DONE!

two wings! 

I am really ready to have this elevator behind me...

it takes two wings

8 hours

I finished up the bulk of the prep on the left wing and set up the wing stand for the right wing.  Getting the ribs ready for priming is quite a chore... I hope to get the right wing to match the left tomorrow.

Back on the bench I final drilled the wing getting ready to rivet.  I need a larger step drill to cut holes for the conduit that will feed to the wingtip and finalize the pitot and AOA lines.

building both wings at the same time

blocking midspan to level the wing in the stand 

sighting down lightening holes in the wing 

squaring up a wing flange with hand seamers

nearing the end of the pile of ribs!

drilling the rib to trailing spar attachments worked out fine on the bench

more ribs please!

wings and things

11 hours

Lots of great progress today.  After a late start to pick up some more 988 primer I made my way to the shop.

Finished preparing the ribs for the left wing then tackled the re-skinning of the right elevator... it is now finished.  The leading edge is really a bugger, after bending and bending with a pipe and vise grip I was finally able to achieve a satisfactory result.

now that is an airplane part!  the scale does not come across in the photo.

initial fitting into a wing stand

formed rib prior to squaring and fluting the flange...

after squaring and fluting the flange 

For a change I spent some time working on finishing up the elevator skins...

back riveting the elevator skins... again...

re-finishing up with the elevator skins

bending the leading edge closure 

right elevator... DONE

the leading edge bend and joint came out very nice

Back to the wings, I used some Lowe's quality aluminum angle (non-aircraft radius on the angles) to hold the main spar for each of the two wing stands.

fitting up some angle for holding the wing on the wing stand during construction

ready for a wing ;)

the outboard side will be bolted directly to the angle on the stand 

getting oriented to the layout and function of my wing stand

For fitting and drilling the spar will need to be leveled up to remove the sag from the weight of the structure.

outboard end secured to the wing stand

gobble gobble!

5 hours
Focused on wing ribs.  Inventorying the batch and separating the main wing ribs for the left and right sides.  In each main wing section there are three different kinds of ribs that are oriented with the flanges inboard or outboard of the root to aide in accessing the structure during riveting... it can be a bit confusing unless particular care is taken.

I spent a a bit of time getting the replacement stiffeners for the elevator primed and finished dimpling the right skin.

Finished up the day on the access panels.

I was able to prep and prime a batch of ribs before the weather and sunlight turned... they sure look good.

a batch of finished wing ribs

quite a pile of ribs...

replacement stiffeners for the elevator skins ready for riveting

one rib at a time... square up the flanges, flute to straighten, debur everything, dimple, clean, prime...

the ribs are handed based on the flange direction and are made of thinner material the farther outboard

many more to go...

access panels for the wings

gobble, gobble!

parts from Van's

4 hours
With a couple of hours of extra time I headed to the shop with the replacement elevator skins from vans.  After completing the rear spars I fabricated the stiffeners and began preparing the right elevator skin.

my elevator skins arrived just after lunch from vans... I made quick work of the stiffeners.

debris from prepping the elevator stiffeners

much quicker the second time ;)

replacement elevator skins...

finished rear wing spars

ready to start making BIG parts!

rear wing spars

4.5 hours
A good shop day.  I finished the fabrication of the rear wing spars and primed up the left one.  Tough on painting when it is cold and wet but the self etching Sherwin Williams 988 GWP appears to be generally indifferent to the weather.

the wings for the -7 are the same as the -8 with only a few modifications... here is one for the rear spars.  i clecoed them all together to make a rough cut with a hack saw and finished the trim with the bench sander and scotchbright wheels.

rear spar doubler plates need to be cut down a bit to accommodate the wider fuselage of the -7 versus the -8

aileron hinge reinforcement doubler with a pass-through for the aileron push tube 

fitting spar reinforcement plates

ready for priming

the mask works very well... no smell :)

priming... sure smells without a mask

I removed the paper over covering the drill board on this bench... what's this?

hidden alien artwork by my Missy!

ready for priming

now ready to rivet