Had some extra vacation days so I got to spend some extra time with the girls. Also got the shop cleaned up from finishing the table & set back to airplane mode.
I had some help fluting the horizontal stabilizer ribs.
Got the skeleton clecoed together! Starting to look like real airplane parts.
Match-drilled the end ribs, deburred & reattached.
Girls got taken to cleco school, got to help clamp & drill some aluminum. I think they liked it!
Back to work - got to install the first skin. I was really tempted to throw on the second, but wanted to limit my mistakes to a few components this early in the build.
Still, it's a real motivator to see widgets take shape into actual assemblies!
Drawing the centerline on the HS-405 & HS-404 ribs was a bit tricky with the curve, but that's what an eraser is for (in this case, mineral spirits).
After a lot of agonizing over whether I was going to wreck the project, I finally bit the bullet and match-drilled the first hole in the skin!
I was particularly concerned about the overlapped HS-405 rib/HS-702/skin joint; I must have measured it 15 times to verify 2D edge distances on each - it's close, but within tolerance.
The first hole was the hardest; after that, I jumped in & finished match-drilling the skin on top & bottom. My friend Josh stopped by to help; hopefully he'll become a regular victim - his fault, really, for letting me move in next to him.
It was a long, slow day, but very productive. I'm hopeful that speed will pick up as I get more confident about my skills. The SportAir Workshop in 3 weeks ought to help, too.
Empennage: 6 hrs
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