Wing Exchange

With the epoxy varnish dry, the near completed left wing was moved back to storage in the rafters of our storage shed.  The second wing was brought down from the rafters and moved to the garage to start the work on the right wing. Hours: 1

Ed and Mike moving the Wing to Storage

Left Wing Varnish, 2nd coat

Applied 2nd coat of epoxy varnish to left wing.  We used a couple of new respirator masks from 3M (7500 series) that we got from Amazon, which fit better and were more comfortable than the old ones.  They have the cartridge for organic vapors, and worked great to filter out the bad stuff.... didn't smell any of the varnish during application at all.   We also didn't use near as much varnish on this coat since the first coat had already done a pretty good job of sealing things up.  Hours 1.0

More Wing Sealing

The wing was flipped and the first coat of SuperFlite epoxy varnish was applied to the wing facing "down".  This allowed us to get the areas under the leading edge skin more easily.  Hours: 1.0

Sealing Wing

Wiped down the wing with acetone to clean the parts in preparation to epoxy seal the internal parts. The first coat of Superflite epoxy varnish was applied to the wing facing "up".  Hours: 2.5

Hinges and balsa

Added small pieces of lightweight wood (Balsa) to the flap and aileron hinges on the left wing.  These fill the volume between the aluminum plates that form the hinge points.  These weren't strictly required, but help with airflow around the hinges, and also help to strengthen them up a bit.  Once the pieces of balsa were in place, we sanded them even with the edges of the aluminum, and added a little bit of filler to fill in small gaps near the trailing edge.   Hours: 2.0

Balsa wood added in center of flap hinge

Pitot Tube Attachment Plate with Filler

Temporarily removed the pitot bracket, then applied lightweight filler to the pitot tube mounting plate.  Once dried, I sanded it to smooth the transitions.  Hours: 1.0

Pitot tube plate with filler

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

Left Wing Bottom Filler Work

After vacations and holidays we're finally getting back to working on the wings.  The transitions between ribs and spars is getting a thin coating of 3M lightweight filler to smooth the transition.  Before applying the filler the contact area was sanded and cleaned with acetone.  In addition to the rib/spar transitions, the area round the lift strut attach bracket was sanded and cleaned, as well as the area around the jury strut bracket.  We are also adding filler to the openings around the flap/aileron attach brackets.  We added tape to the outside of the gap and applied the filler from the inside (see picture).  Hours: 1.5

3M Lightweight Filler Added to aft wing area

Filler added to gap around Aileron/Flap Brackets