| 2ND QTR 2014 |
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| 04/10/14 - 1.5 The genuine Kimball aileron hinge blocks arrived so I spent some time sorting out the hardware then installing the hinge blocks and back plates to the aft spars.
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| 04/12/14 - 7.6 Long frustrating day, glad there weren't any matches around or I might have torched the thing! It started out simple enough, sorting the hardware to mount the hinge blocks to the ailerons. Had to mill down a 3/8" socket to hold the AN3-5A bolts in the blocks. After I got the blocks mounted I got the left aileron rod ends set to have the aileron gap at 1/4" and the left aileron moving nice and free on its hinges. When I went to mount the right aileron is when the fun began. The center hinge just wouldn't line up. Went to dinner and came back determined to pull an all nighter if needed. After numerous attempts to get things to line up, eventually I figured out that the faces of the plywood doublers that the hinge blocks bolt to were not co-planar due to them being glued to that spar that wasn't perfectly flat but had instead had developed a slight convex cupping over the years spent sitting in my barn. When I aligned the bearings in the rod ends and then sighted through them, I could see the inner and outer hinges were low compared to the center hinge which appeared high compared to them. So all I had to do was carefully file a perfectly flat but slight taper in each of the plywood doublers to tilt the inner and outer hinges up to proper position and the center hinge down into proper position. The inner hinge needed to angle slightly outboard to line up into its hinge block just a tiny bit too. Easier said than done!!! I took the nutplates off the spars and used plain nuts and fender washers to quickly mount and dismount the aileron hinges after each test fit. I also was careful not to file very much off the doublers at any one time to avoid taking to much off. After about 30 or so mount/test fit/dismounting of the aileron, I got it set at the proper gap and swinging very nicely in its hinges. I then pulled the hinge blocks off, coated the bare wood I had created with a thin layer of glue and went home. LESSON LEARNED AGAIN: When you get your wing kit, build it right away. Wood cannot be trusted to stay straight if ignored!!
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| 04/14/14 - 0.7 With plywood doublers re-varnished, I mounted the hinge blocks with proper hardware and assembled the aileron on the wing verifying proper gap and free swinging.
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| 04/18/14 - 1.3 Cut the last two -49 side rails loose from the board and fit them to the sides of the center section butt ribs. Glued and clamped them in, set 1/8" below top surface of butt rib so tank skin will sit flush.
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| 04/19/14 - 1.2 Cut ten -17 center section triangle corner blocks. Marked the locations on the spars for the -7 center section ribs. Cut them out of the source board and got four of the five fitting snugly on the spars, by first cutting them on the band saw, then sanding the ends on a belt sander to get a good fit.
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| 04/20/14 - 2.6 Finshed fitting the center section ribs. Taped the ends of the ribs with clear packing tape to keep glue from sticking to the ribs. Put packing stap on top the spars too to keep heights the same. Cut some paint sticks into little pieces and stapled the ribs into position flush with the top surface of the spars. Sanded the -17 triangle corner blocks to 1 inch width and also adjusted their angles to match the rib/spar angle. Glued the corner blocks in after flipping the wing over so they would stay in position with gravity.
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| 04/21/14 - 1.5 Flipped wing back over. Removed paint sticks and staples. Used a wrench to gently rock loose each end of the ribs from the glued corner blocks. Removed the packing tape from the ribs. Removed excess glue from the corner blocks.
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| 04/26/14 - 0.5 Started fitting the top center tank skin, cut the rear edge.
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| 4/30/14 - 2.7 Got the center tank skin screwed down. Laid out 2" on center, and drilled holes along the aft edge of the center tank skin. Installed some of the #6x5/8" screws to hold it down. Used a long straightedge to mark where to cut the front edge. After cutting front edge, I then figured out the hole spacing for the side edges and put some of thse screws in before finally putting the front screws in at 2" spacing. All screw holes were countersunk with an adjustable stop countersink.
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| 05/05/14 - 1.5 Did some final adjustment of the ribs to slip fit into position on the spars, then put wax paper between them and the spars. Glued up the top of the spars real good and then screwed the tank skin down.
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| 05/06/14 - 2.5 Popped the skin off the wing and then clened up the excess glue from the ribs and glue joints. Cut some small scraps and glued them in the corners of the tank skin areas.
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| 05/07/14 - 2.2 Still killing time waiting for center tank straps, so working on wingtips today. Did some adjustment to the forward spar tips to get the wingtips fitting properly. Also cut some scrap board to fit on the nose ribs to provide glue area when I go to attach them later.
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| 05/10/14 - 1.7 Got the tank straps, but decided to varnish the bays where they go before installing them. Did more fitting of the wing tip nose scraps.
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| 05/11/14 - 1.2 Reamed and deburred the holes in the strap ends. Installed the tank straps and bolted them to the spars, then test fit the wing tank and marked it where to install the adhesive felt. I then installed the turnbuckle assemblies.
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| 05/14/14 - 1.8 Fitted the right aft center section skin, then glued, stapled and clamped it in. Added a weight over the rib area to make sure it gets a good bond to the skin.
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| 05/16/14 - 2.5 Removed the staples and paint sticks, then used a thin saw to cut the edge of the plywood close to the bow. Did some work with a wood rasp and sand paper to get the skin shaped. I then fitted the left aft center section skin, then glued, stapled and clamped it in. Used clamps on the trailing edge because I didn't like the staples coming through the bottom of the wing when I glued the right side.
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| 05/18/14 - 2.0 Removed staples and paint sticks, then took a long straight edge and marked lines even with the trailing edges of the ailerons and ribs, then trimmed center sections to match. Did some rough contouring work on the bow area. Switched to figuring out the wires so I can put the clevises on the wire pulls prior to installing leading edges. Got the wires out and measured them between threaded sections to sort them by length.
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| 05/20/14 - 1.4 After getting help from Kevin, I made up a table to help me get the wires sorted out and put the correct ends on the wing. I then installed the AN665-61L left hand threaded clevises on the flying wire lugs. Basically all left hand threaded (opposite direction)clevis ends go up.
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| 05/31/14 - 0.5 Pulled the 9 molded plywood leading edges down from storage and after asking him, Kevin told me they are all the same for top and bottom wings, so I put 4 back up to eventually put on the bottom wings.
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| 06/01/14 - 0.7 Test fitted a leading edge section to start determining the thickness of shims needed to have the tank skin and leading edge meet flush when the leading edge is glued in. Along with the 1/8" shim under the leading edge I will add a thin shim section under the front edge of the fuel tank cover.
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| 06/03/14 - 1.4 Cut some 1/16" shim to go under the front edge of the tank cover, and used a sanding block to thin it down to about .050" then drilled it to match the screw pattern. I then glued it in with wax paper to keep it from sticking to the cover. Glued and stapled in the 1/8" shim for the leading edge too.
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| 06/04/14 - 2.2 Removed staples and paint sticks from the leading edge shim and cleaned up the excess glue. Sanded the nose ribs to match the newly installed shim. Flipped the wing to install the shim stock for the leading edge on the bottom side. Needed very thin shim, so I figured out a way to pull strips of 1/16" shim under a power planer with aluminum strips taped to its bottom and held flat on a steel table. Glued and stapled the shim in.
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| 06/07/14 - 1.1 Removed staples from glued shim. Using short section of leading edge as a guide, sanded shim and nose ribs so leading edge will fit flush with bottom tank skin when glued later.
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| 06/08/14 - 4.2 Drilled two holes through leading edge into noseribs to use finish nails to make the leading edge stay in the same position each time when installed. Used a sharp chisel to cut a taper in the fwd edge of the bottom tank skin to make a scarf joint with the leading edge there. Trimmed the bottom of the leading to fit, then sanded a matching taper for the scarf. Sanded the joint until the leading edge sat flush when pulled tight to the nose ribs using tiedowns and wood sticks. Flipped the wing rightside up and trimmed the top leading edge until it fit good with the tank cover. Taped off the future glue areas on som eof the ribs and started varnishing with EV-400, but soon discovered I could varnish accurately without tape, and then varnished the entire wing leading edge areas.
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| 06/11/14 - 1.7 Put wax paper in to keep glue off the tank cover. Put clear packing tape on paint sticks and ripped them into strips to staple later. While I glued up the ribs and spars, Don applied glue to the entire inner surface of the leading edges with a bondo spreader. Then installed the leading edge, strapped it into place and stapled the edges down with paint sticks.
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| Quarter Total 48.2 hrs / TTD 1497.3 hrs | |
| 2ND QTR 2014 |
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