Big moment this week. Checked with Anne at Van's on the Fuselage lead time and ended up ordering the Fuse (slow build) on Tues. There is about a 9 week lead time for delivery on the east coast. Even with our long vacation I should have plenty of time to finish the wings by then. The kit should be arriving the first or second week in September.
I was ready to start on the right wing tank late last week, but when I checked my can of Proseal it had expired in March 2012. There is a lot of data from professionals that use this stuff every day that it's probably still good, but given how important the tank is (and that Proseal isn't that expensive,) I just ordered another can.
In the meantime I proceeded with preparing the main spar (lots of countersinking) and finishing the leading edge and getting it riveted on.
The main spar has to be machine countersunk to accept the dimples in the leading edge skin. Finished that up Monday. The 2 rows of shiny countersunk holes at the top are the result of an hour or so of working down the spar with the machine countersink.
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| From Right Wing |
The next task was to disassemble, deburr and dimple the leading edge skin and ribs.
This is what it looked like (metal porcupine on the bench to the left) when I was done match drilling and everything. Didn't bother taking any pics of deburring and dimpling since there isn't much to see.
Once it's done it will be riveted to the top right side of the wing spar to the right of the picture.
This is what it looked like (metal porcupine on the bench to the left) when I was done match drilling and everything. Didn't bother taking any pics of deburring and dimpling since there isn't much to see.
Once it's done it will be riveted to the top right side of the wing spar to the right of the picture.
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| From Right Wing |
Basically the joint plate is riveted to the leading edge and provides an attach point for the fuel tank, which makes up the inboard leading edge of the wing. This is the joint plate after scuffing and dimpling (it's a large curved "V" shape - part of it is hanging off the table edge in this shot)
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| From Right Wing |
And this is what it looks like after installing the nutplates and priming. All the rivet squeezing straightened it out so I had to re-bend it to match the rib.
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| From Right Wing |
Once the joint plate is finished the whole thing (skin, ribs and joint plate) get clecoed together and flush riveted. This is done in the saddle to make the process a bit easier.
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| From Right Wing |
This is the finished leading edge structure. It's amazing to me how light this stuff is - I doubt if this whole thing weighs 10 pounds, yet it is easily strong enough to stand on.+
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| From Right Wing |
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| From Right Wing |
I may or may not put a landing light on this side - haven't decided yet. It would go on the leading edge between the two vertical rivet lines on the near end of the picture.
I've also seen some folks put a GoPro video camera behind some plexi on the wing for some incredible in-flight video.
Have to think about that. One of the bennies of building an Experimental is you can do some of these things.
