Skins have been fitted... needed to trim the access holes for the forward and rear spar attach points. Both needed a wee bit of widening.
Also my priming job was a bit lacking, so I needed to respray the skins. Learned that I need to do less pieces in a single shot, and build some better jigs for holding everything while spraying. Not hard... just needs to be done.
So, the skins are fit and the access holes have been trimmed. Onto assembly!
Jig... need a jib to have access to the underside of the skin so it can be riveted. I pondered this problem for quite a while, and came up with the above. 10' 2x4 suspended over the bench, and the forward spar clamped to it. Whatever you are riveting needs to be FIRMLY clamped. With this jig, the skins can hang under the jig, so I can access inside for bucking purposes. Like so...
Along the way I learned that while the END of the jig is really good for riveting, the unsupported middle was not - and it was consistently providing smiled rivets. After drilling them out and driving them again, and getting MORE smiles, I figured something is wrong. I am GUESSING that the jig is bouncing during riveting, hence the smiles.
NOTE: The rear spar is only clecoed in place to help with stability while in the jig.
Jig modifications necessary... So I built a brace to clamp to the rear spar, and have wedged a 2x4 strut under the from beam. The strut will help until I put on the other skin, then I am going to have to figure something else out.
So first line of rivets all done. I am training my 11 year old helper the finer points of bucking rivets... he is learning fast...
