And Finally it Gets Installed

After allowing the epoxy to cure overnight, the pitot mount was finally able to be installed in new mounting plate.  Nice and secure.  Four countersunk screws into the nutplates secure the mount.  Hours: 0.5

Pitot mount FINALLY installed

Pitot Mounting Bracket Attached

The mount that will hold the pitot attach bracket was removed, sanded and cleaned with acetone.  The mating wood areas were sanded as well.  Hysol epoxy was mixed and thinly applied to the touching areas.  Finally the parts were riveted in place and after 30 minutes the epoxy was smoothed into nice fillets.

While the epoxy was curing, four nut plates were attached to the pitot attach bracket with solid countersunk rivets.  A handheld rivet squeezer was used to set these rivets.  Hours: 1.5

Pitot attach plate installed

Four nut plates installed on Pitot attach bracket

More Pitot Mounting Bracket Work

More work on the pitot tube mounting bracket and it's attachment to the wing.  Mounting holes were drilled and dimpled where needed.  The rib cap strip was countersunk to account for the three dimpled holes in that area.  Since the pitot tube mounting bracket is steel, it was painted to prevent rust.  Hours: 1.5

Mounting plate and supports drilled, dimpled and cleco'd in place

Pitot tube mounting bracket painted

Pitot Tube Work

Continued working on the pitot tube mount.  Two 3/4" wide legs were fashioned out of 0.032" 6061 aluminum. Part of the rib cap strip was removed to allow the pitot tube to fit close to the rib for better support.  All parts were deburred.  Using a long straight level, the parts were clamped in place to verify fit.  Next step will be to drill holes for rivets, dimple the locations that need it, and then finally epoxy and rivet the parts in place.  Hours: 1

Final parts clamped in Ppace

Two stiffener legs added

Rib cap strip removal for clearance

Left Wing filler & pitot tube

Filller work on the left wing is oh so close to being done.  Just a little more sanding to go.  Now we are working on the installation of the pitot tube on the left wing.  We currently plan on using a pitot assembly that is different than the plans, so are doing a little bit of engineering to figure out the installation.  We purchased a pitot tube attach bracket, and will mount the bracket on rib #5 (same as the plans). The aluminum attach plate that came with the pitot bracket doesn't quite work for us, so we will construct a new one.   Hours: 1.5

Left wing filler, cont.

Sanded some filler near the trailing edge of the left wing.  Needs another thin coat in a few spots and some more sanding, then the trailing edge should be ready.  Hours: 0.5

More Left Wing Bottom Filler Work

More 3M lightweight filler was added around the lift strut attach bracket and the jury strut attach bracket on the left wing.  Trying to get a smooth transition in these areas.  Once the filler had cured, it was sanded  to get good contours.  A little more work will be needed.  Hours: 1

Left Wing Bottom Filler Work

3M Lightweight filler was added to new areas and sanded smooth in areas that was previously applied.  Hours: 1.5