Left wing leading edge attached!

We had a great Father's Day Weekend camping at Leonard Harrison state park (PA); saw bear, deer, waterfalls, and clouds in a pretty cool gorge they call the PA Grand Canyon.

 

We had enough time when we got home to tackle the stall warning assembly mods on the left wing leading edge. Nat was a big help!

 With the access attach doubler match-drilled, I worked on match drilling the skin at the leading edge. Not sure whether the VA-195 template is necessary given the pre-punched holes, but I looked at it as a tool to prevent elongating the holes.

 Once those holes were drilled, devinyled, deburred and dimpled, I marked lines to file out the stall warning vane gap.

 The diamond-shaped detail file I have was just the right size - as seen by the keyhole shape in the background.

 Rough finished!

 Filed & scotchbrited

 I also drilled to #40, deburred, dimpled & edge-deburred the VA-195F mini rib.

 With the girls occupied I stole a few more minutes to cleco the left leading edge ribs into the LE skin. Couldn't have done it without the clecos they bought for Father's Day!

 And...2 wings! Almost. These came together pretty quick, I have to say...which makes me wonder what I'm missing.

Great weekend, noticeable progress, and new tools (clecos & the rolling stool seen in the background of a couple pics). What more could a dad ask for?

 

Wings: 2 hrs

Left wing top skin match drilled, right wing leading edge attached!

Today was mostly shop cleanup after a lazy morning, breaking down the wing spar crate & vacuuming aluminum & sawdust off the floor, but I managed to also make the right wing actually look a bit like a wing!

The leading edge is just clecoed on, didn't have time to insert the inboard rib for marking, but it still looks pretty cool.

 

Both girls threw in a few clecos for me, but I didn't have the time lapse camera running. Glad they haven't given up on me yet!

 

I also learned this week that you can never have too many clecos - I'm borrowing from the main skins to get the leading edges assembled! I'll either need to start dismantling parts or buy some more. We shall see.

 

Wings: 2.5 hrs

Left wing main skins on, bottom match-drilled, leading edge cradle built

I had some expert help today removing the blue vinyl from the inside of the leading edge skins:

Next I put down the sheet metal tools briefly and built the plywood-and-2x4 cradle to assemble the wing leading edge assemblies. First I traced a W-709 rib on 3/4" plywood,

Then I cut out the first rectangle, traced the rectangle on additional plywood, and clamped the 2 blanks together.

Then a couple quick turns of the jigsaw, and voila!

I modified this slightly from Vans' prints, but the jig sits outside the rivet lines and seems a bit sturdier than what's recommended.

Next I cut two 1.25" strips of carpet to cushion the jig; one

And two

And two screws later on the outside of the jig, and we have a cradle!

And here it is...cradling. Excellent.

With the woodworking out of the way, I finished match-drilling the bottom of the right wing, and traced intersecting lines to locate the tie-down bracket on the right wing.

I also got the left wing skins clecoed on (man, do I need more 3/32" clecos!)

And after match-drilling the left wing bottom skins, I traced intersection lines for the tie-down bracket there, as well.

With the match-drilling of the bottom skins complete, I removed them to free up clecos & allow me to break down the spar crate, making more room to work around the wings.

 Another productive day! I need to finish up match-drilling the top of the left wing, then I'll be able to scrounge some clecos to assemble & drill the leading edges. All of a sudden it seems like we're flying along... I wonder what I'm forgetting?

 

Wings: 4 hrs

Right wing main skins match drilled, left wing on the rack

We started the weekend with some motivation - pancakes! We drove to Frederick, MD to the AOPA fly-in for pancakes provided by the local EAA chapter, and some gawking.

The girls got to hop in several of the planes, including EAA's One Week Wonder. 

Later in the day, one of our neighbors, Joe, stopped by to help match-drill the right wing bottom skins.

 I completed the top skins also.

 While Joe was busy with the match-drilling, I fabricated the left wing-walk doubler and match drilled it to the inboard top skin.

 I also modified the wing stand slightly and Joe helped me hand the left wing skeleton so we could skin that wing as well.

Great to see both wings in the rack! Joe was a great help; it's been a lot of fun getting several different people involved with the build. I enjoy the solo work, but sharing it is just more fun.

Wings: 4 hrs