The Wing (Page 2)



 
 
Here is the aileron bellcrank assembly.  It all comes powder coated now, which is nice.
And here is the wing tie down bracket.  It is part of the same assembly as the aileron bracket above, but on the other side of the main spar.
Here I have used cargo straps and pieces of oak scrap to hold the skins down while I drill them to the ribs.
And this is what it looks like once the skins are all drilled on.  The fuel tank is on the far end.
You have to drill the fuel tank attach "Z" brackets to the spar.
The fuel tank rear baffle sits on top of the "Z" brackets (note the beer fridge in the background).
Another view of the "Z" brackets once they are drilled on.
Putting those 6 foot pieces of threaded rod through all of the leading edge and tank ribs can be a major pain in the a**.  So, I used s short piece of threaded rod to position a nut and washer on either side of a rib, then used hockey shin pad tape to fasten the nut and washer firmly to the rib.  I then clecoed the ribs to the spar, and chucked the long threaded rod in my drill.

Using a medium speed, I just spun the rod onto the ribs, took the tape off, and tightened the nuts once the ribs were straight. Voila.  Takes less than a minute a rib to tape the nuts and washers on, then about a minute or two to spin the rod in using the drill.

Pretty dark picture (I don't think the flash went off), but it shows a pristine fuel level sender on the right, and a completed one on the left.
Here I have drilled and clecoed the fuel tank stiffeners to the right fuel tank skin.
These are in the inboard ribs, once they have been, Pro-Sealed.  UGGHH! I found doing these things was the worst part of the whole process.  The rest of the sealing was dead easy.
Here are the access panels for the end ribs.  Again, dead easy.
This is the right tank skin with the stiffeners in place.  Use a small wire brsh to really scuff up where the ribs and stiffeners go.  This will provide a much better bonding surface for the Pro-Seal.
And this is the filler neck.  Kind of a pain in the butt to back rivet.  Make sure to orient the neck the right way (there is a front).  I needed to bend mine just a little bit more to make it fit right.
Now, my first major OOPS!! I was using a pneumatic squeezer to dimple the trailing edge of the wing when it grabbed the rear spar doubler, and in about a millisecond knarled the flange.  I was heart sick.
Here you can see where the squeezer grabbed the doubler.
It is hard to make out in this picture, but this is the fix I had Andy at Van's approve.  I cut out the damaged part of  the flange.  I made a 6" wide doubler piece to go under the flange with 5 skin rivets and two keeper rivets on either side of the hole.
I then made a filler piece to go in the gap in the flange, and riveted that in place.  The trailing edge came out quite smooth.  Man, dodged that bullet!



 

That's it for page 2 of the wing.  Click here to go to the fuselage,  here to go back to page 1, or here to go back to the project home page..