Wings - Part V

Things are definitely moving along now.

Flap bellcranks are assembled, and in their mounts.  Next step is to build the flap cable pulley that goes behind the aft spar.  At this point, clearances need to be checked to verify the cables will go through the holes on the spars.  I used nylon line for my weed trimmer.

I can't say enough about having both wings going at the same time... It is more than twice as fast from a build perspective.  The first one (in my case) usually involves some learning, or jigging, or swearing... while the 2nd one goes much faster.

Attach angles for the flap brackets.  These are very fiddly to make.  

Finally... reassembly time!  Ribs starting to go back in...

Main ribs 1 and 2 need to be riveted together... I used the C frame for these... makes a nice job and is very quick.

All ribs installed and riveted.  The cap strips under the forward spar are clecoed in place for when the nose skins go on.

Speaking of nose skins...  I made some jigs to hold the skins while riveting.  I clamp these to the bench.  Worked very well - keeps the entire assembly held firmly.  I can also use the cut outs to clamp the piece into place very firmly, but haven't seemed to need this.

Had some issues with the flush riveting... I have done a bit of this in the past, but never this much, and never on a curved surface.  The squeezed rivets (aft most rivet hole top and bottom, and the end ribs can be squeezed - more if you have a longer yoke) were good, but the bucked rivets were slightly proud.  So after tiring of drilling out rivets, I asked from fellow builders for some advice.  

Seems like I was putting too much pressure on the bucking bar, and not enough on the manufacturer head.  This seemed to address the issue.  I am using a small tungsten bar on the interior of the assembly.

I moved the assembly from side to side in the alley between the wings.  Luckily I could do this on my own.  Simply remove all the jigs except one on each end, and move one end at a time.  When the assembly is all 3 nose skins (16' long), it is rather wobbly.

First nose skin in place.... but I missed one rivet... so it will have to come back down once the other side is done.

2nd nose skin in process.  The first one took me 3 partial days.... the 2nd one was 80% completed in about 2 hours.  Probably 3 hours total.  Building both wings at the same time is the way to do it, no doubt.

Once these two nose assemblies are done, they will need to be inspected before I can move forward.  Submitted the paperwork on 12/31/2019.  Happy New Years eve!

Next steps:

1. Finish nose skin / rib assemblies
2. Rivet nose skin / rib assemblies to forward spar
3. Alodyne / prime main skins
4. Fabricate lower flap track angles
5. Cut slots in lower main skins for flap tracks
6. Rivets lower main skins

Wings - Part IV

Lots of progress since the last update.  With racing season over (at least the racing component), finally have some time to get going on the wings.

 Aileron hinges all fit, primed, and riveted...

  

Aileron bellcranks drilled and primed... part I.  After the attach angles are riveted to the bracket, they are then fit on the spar and drilled in place.  Then finally the small attach angles are drilled in place and riveted.

Assembled bellcranks ready to be fit to the spars.

Small attach angles (4 per side) all cut and pilot holes drilled.

I drilled all of these little angles in place to ensure a good fit.  Used a right angle drill and extended bits depending on the challenge.

Aileron hinges and bellcranks all riveted in place.  I thought the hinges would be afternoon job... NOT.

Aileron pulley bracket.  I clamped everything in place and drilled in place.

All the hinges, bellcranks, and pulleys for the ailerons fit, drilled, primed, riveted, etc.

Onto the flap tracks!  Yay!  I copied Ted Setzer who recommends rounding the edges and having the tracks anodized.  This avoids chipping if painted.

Fitting the flap tracks.  I cut a piece of wood the same thickness as the track and wedges it between the brackets to get the right spacing.

Flap bellcranks... initial fit.  So the manual clearly states that the pilot holes here are drilled wrong.  Why have they been drilled wrong all these years is beyond me (apparently its backwards compatibility with the Glastar).  You have to reclock the arms... but how do you keep everything centered?

My solution was to get some washers from the Home Depot Aircraft Store... I trimmed them down slightly to fit inside the arms and spacers (just shy of 1.5" diameter), and inside the crank where the bearings go (just under 1" diameter).  I then wedges the hole washer assembly together and reclocked appropriately.  

Everything alodined... ready for primer.

Assembly...

All riveted together... looks like a mini Millennium Falcon!

Flap tracks back from the anodizer...

Flap pulley brackets... initial drilling and shaping.

Next steps:

1. Finish flap pulley brackets

2. Mount flap tracks

3. Mount Flap bellcranks and verify cable clearances

4. Remount and rivet all the main and cove ribs

5. Rivet the leading edge ribs to the skins

6. Inspection!

Wings - Part III

The wings are moving along.

All of the components have been deburred, dimpled, and primed... the grand disassembly event.  There are ~1700 counter sinks in the spars.  More than that of dimples.  Must be over 5000 holes to debur.  Took WEEKS (or at least if felt like it did) to get everything done.  An then there is all of the cleaning, Alodyning, priming, etc.

Aileron Hinges

There are a LOT of pieces and holes to be drilled in these suckers...

7 pieces per hinge...

The manual says to build all the hinges, flap tracks, bell cranks, etc and then corrosion proof everything at once.  I can see parts getting misplaced, so I am doing everything in batches.  Clean, Alodyne, Prime, move on to the next.

Next is riveting the aileron hinges, and the bell cranks (not pictured here).  I am going to anodize the flap tracks, and clean up the edges similar to what Ted Setzer has done on his 'SuperStars'.  Pictures to come in the near future.

Fuselage is home!

Yesterday was a REALLY cool day.  We met the truck bringing the fuselage from the east coast in Blaine, WA and transferred it to the race car trailer, and then brought it home the Canada!

Stewart Transport picked up the kit in New Hampshire, and 3400 miles later...

These guys were great.  No damage... only catch is they will not deliver to Canada...

Packed in the smaller race car trailer...

We had to take the nose gear off to get it to fit.  The fender wells on the inside kept us from moving the fuselage farther back... We only put the nose gear on for transport anyway.

The fuselage is very CAREFULLY placed in the hanger until the wings are done... hoping to have that done by Christmas 2019.

Wings - Part II

So the wings are trucking right along... all the long monotonous tasks... deburring, dimpling, etc.

Countersinking the spar and root ribs.

Checking the dimples on the nose skins and leading edge ribs.

There is about another hundred or so countersinks to go...

Have started priming all the wing components.  The nose ribs are complete, as are the stiffeners the go around the tanks.  Have to do the main ribs, flap cove ribs, aileron ribs, and the skins.  Lots to go.

2006 Quickbuild Fuselage

I took a gigantic leap forward in the past couple weeks... I found a gentlemen on the east coast selling a 2006 quick build fuselage.  After a business trip / diversion I went out and took a look.  Well, I purchased it and it should be picked up by Stewart Transport (who specializes in moving kit aircraft and kit cars) around September 10, 2019 and delivered 7 to 10 days later.

We spent almost a full day packing everything and getting it ready for shipping.

We packed as much as possible (without damaging anything) inside the fuselage.  Mainly light bulky things...

This kit/purchase will push me forward probably by about a year.  It is a quick build, so the cage is hung.  The person I bought it from has upgraded the doors to the latest design including the rear door.   The header tanks are in, and most of the fuel system inside the fuselage is together.

However some modifications will be necessary.  As this is an older design, the cage tubing is smaller diameter.  Ted Setzer has developed an upgrade for taildragger configuration with extended gear that strengthens it by about 50%.  It also does not have the SB done for the seatbelts.

So now the priority is to get the wings ready to hang ASAP.  The fuselage is pretty much ready for the wings so the struts can be cut and fit.

Happy days!

Wings - Part I

Its been about a year since the blog has been updated, so this will be a length post... lots have happened on the wings.

Where the last post left off was getting the spars on the jigs, level and plumb.

Root ribs

First step is to FIND the root ribs (mine were mislabeled).  They then have to be modified to fit.  The root rib webbing needs to be cut and fit into the ribs.

Both root ribs cut and fit and ready to be drilled.  Doublers need to be installed on the rib flanges. 

Fully assembled root rib 

Once they are fit and drilled, corrosion proofing (both Alodyne and Zinc Chromate) and riveted, and finally placed into the jigs. 

Assembling the nose, main, flap/aileron cove ribs into the jigs.

The main ribs outboard of the inboard fuel tank are doubled up.  No real fitting required, but they have to be drilled for riveting later. 

The strut beam components are all pre cut and do not require much work.  Simply corrosion proof them and install. 

This picture shows the bracing I built to hold the jigs in place.  As I have garage doors to work around, I glued them to the floor of the shop and then braced them to each other, and then to the walls.  1 year in they have not moved at all (plumb bobs on each corner to monitor for movement). 

Nose skins going on.  You can see the wood block hot glued to the spar and rib to hold it square.  The outboard ones are easy to adjust through lightening holes in the spar, but the mid and root skins are not so easy. 

To hold everything in place and line it up to the lines on the spar I used strips of plywood and clamps to position everything and hold it in place while drilling.

Installing the spar spar caps was fun.  They double up the spar in the mid section of the wing on the top spars.  They help tie the nose and main skins together and add strength. 

Forward holes drilled in the spar caps. 

Main skins going on. 

One side done! 

Stiffeners for the fuel tanks. 

Pitot static mast going on the left wing.  Rather than purchasing the Glasair kit, I simple bought a mount from Aircraft Spruce and will buy all my own hardware.

This plate will go on the inside of the wing and ties into the  skin stiffeners.  

Moved to the inside to drill the holes. 

Pitot static mast installed.  Nothing is riveted yet, but all the holes are drilled, dimpled and deburred. 

Drilling the primary spar attachment holes to the root rib.  I made a little jig to make this a bit easier.