Wings
Wings #14 (Left Wing Completion)
Total build time: 438 hours. The wing skins are polished and just about ready to install. I have a few more details to take care of on the leading edge skin. First I dimpled the holes for flush rivets (using the Sonex super-simple-dimple-die), and then I completed the LRI installation. Then I started … Continue reading
Wing Storage Rack
Being almost done with my left wing, I started looking into options to store it that would take up minimal space in my workshop. I am glad that I decided to build the wings before moving on to the forward fuselage, as working on the wings has taken up most of the available room in … Continue reading
Wings #13 (Left Flap)
Total Build Time: 425 Hours As with the left aileron, I prepared several parts for the left/right flap simultaneously. Here are the drive horns: After having made the left aileron, the left flap was a piece of cake in comparison. The aerobatic aileron option actually makes the flap simpler and shorter, with … Continue reading
Wings #12 (Left Aileron, Aerobatic, Video)
Total build time: 404 Hours The aileron skins are complete. I prepared several parts for both the left and right aileron at the same time. First up was the lead counterweights. Lead block is simply no fun to work with, it’s kind of like working with metal, wood, and syrup all at the same time. I … Continue reading
Wings #11 (Aileron/Flap Skins, aerobatic)
Total Build Time: 397 Hours Before I finished the left wing, I decided to complete my left flap and aileron first. This would allow me to perform multiple test fittings of my work as I proceeded, as well as allow me to do some preliminary rigging of the push-rods before the wing skins go on. … Continue reading
Wings #10 (LRI – Lift Reserve Indicator)
Total build time: 381 hours. All of the left wing is now deburred and I’m ready to install my first significant customization to my plane. I decided to install a “Lift Reserve Indicator (LRI)” made by Kelly at Value Engineering. An LRI indicator is basically a poor pilot’s angle of attack indicator, and/or stall warning … Continue reading
Wings #9 (Left wing skinning – forward skin)
Total build time: 359 hours. The leading edge skins came packed in one of the 2 remaining unopened boxes in my shop. The leading edge bend was pre-formed by the factory. This skin takes multiple steps to position and drill. The first step is the easiest, done by draping the skin over … Continue reading
Wings #8 (Left wing skinning – aft skins)
Total build time: 350 hours. Before the skins can be positioned on the wing, the substructure must be made square and free of any twist. My initial method for doing this was to use 2 sawhorses. To hold the frame square, I used 2 pieces of wood bolted to the spars, and clamped them tight … Continue reading
Wings #7 (Left wing substructure completion)
Total Build Time: 342 hours. As with most things that have to be done twice, the second time around went smoother and I was able to make improvements on my technique. For starters, before aligning my root ribs I did a better job of squaring up the wing first, this made the fitting process a … Continue reading
Wings #6 (Right wing substructure completion)
Total Build time: 330 hours. After updrilling and deburring all of the ribs, I marked blue lines on the flanges to align them later with the wing skins. My method was to use a flat table and blue sharpie with a little bit of masking tape wrapped around to shim the point to the … Continue reading
Wings #5 (Right wing root ribs and substructure)
Total build time: 325 hours. To begin the right wing substructure, I first attached the aft ribs with their spacers, then added the forward ribs. I then put the assembly on sawhorses, and clecoed the aft spar in place: The root ribs are special, and the aft root rib in particular needs to be … Continue reading
Wings #4 (Spacers)
Total Build time: 320 hours. Before fitting the ribs to the main spar, a certain number of spacers have to be made to fill the gaps created by the multiple varying layers within the main spar. There are 2 types of spacers… those that are the thickness of the main spar caps: And then … Continue reading
Wings #3 (Rear spar and Forward Root Ribs)
Total build time: 315 hours. For the forward root ribs I made a popular modification that increases access to the flap drive tubes during wing installation and removal. A typical rib is on the left. I connected the 2 holes to create 1 large hole. This is as far as I went with … Continue reading
Wings #2 (Aileron Bell-cranks)
Total Build Time: 307 Hours. The aileron bell crank assembly marks the first flight control interface I’ve built on the aircraft. As such, I took extra special care in making these parts, 1 per wing. It may be difficult to see in the following picture, but i made the holes in my right … Continue reading
Wing Spars #5 (Completion and Mating)
Total Build Time: 296 Hours. Completing my wing spars ranks right up there with completing the turtledeck and seeing the entire aft fuselage come together. So much time put into working the same looking hard-to-work-with parts, it’s easy to lose track of progress and get frustrated in the process. It was with great satisfaction … Continue reading