We decided to use the same method as the time we attached the wing for setting the angle of incidence. So we use the small saw horses with MDF plates and old seat cushions. This time the Wings are painted, so we need to be extra careful.

For the left wing we measure the distance to the first saw horse. We need enough room for the Pitot/AoA tube.

This time it is easier to insert the wing spar into the main bulk head, Probably because we are ‘experienced’. Also we need to take care of the bottom skin. The bottom skin of the fuselage slides over the skin of the wings.

Once the main wing spar has been inserted into the main bulk head, the aft spar needs to slide into the seat bulk head. There is not much leverage to get the aft spar in the bulk head. By gently wiggling the Wing we can slide it in.

With both spars installed and the skins correctly weaved, we can attach the forward wing bracket. It connects the fuel tank bracket to the fuselage. Now we need to connect the Fuel line, the return line, the vent line and the fuel level sender wire.

The last step (and by far the the hardest) is inserting all the 10 bolts on the inside that clamp the wing spar to the main bulk head. The bolts fit is really tight inside spars and it takes some time to get them all in.

Ok, next up the right wing, this is easier, because of even more ‘experience’. Also there are less connections and there is no Pitot tube. In order to make it easier to insert the wings, we have the crates under the tailwheel to set the plane (almost) level.

The Wing is not that heavy, picking it from the cradle, however there is very little space, so it’s hard to insert the wing, while holding it at the leading edge.

I made the holes in the wing ribs and fuselage skin for the electric wiring with a very tight fit. It makes it really hard push through the skins. It prevents vibrations during flight, but it’s horrible when the wing is just hanging there.

Now again inserting all the bolts, to secure the wing (spar) to the main bulkhead.

Now I can screw the nuts on and torque the nuts.

When the Wings are attached, we can lower the tailwheel to the ground.

Time: 6 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-09-19)

Time: 7 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-09-22)

Time: 7 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-09-26)

Time: 6 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-09-29)

Time: 7 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-10-03)

Video

If you carefully place them in the outboard “bay” of the wing, it stays there, so you can attach them with the bolts.

You have to make spacers from Aluminum tubes provided in the kit. Also washers are used as spacers. I use a small steel strap to place the washers in place. I’m not sure why, but after a home made spacer of tube, there is always a large washer necessary.

After attaching the Aileron to the rear spar bracket, the push-rod can be attached. The length is adjustable and was initially set to some approximated length.

The other side of the (aileron) push-rod is connected to the bell-crank. On the top you can see the thread with which the length can be set.

There is a special template that provides the exact setting for the level Aileron. With this template in place the Aileron can now be adjusted.

Aligning a long Aluminum angle piece, through the four tool holes in the outboard most ribs, provides a visualization of the chord. By adjusting the length of the push-rod, the chord should go exactly through the trailing edge of the Aileron.

Time: 3 Hours, Rivets:  0/0

Video

I could reach with my hand between the spar and the leading edge skin, but only just and it left cut marks for days on my hand. Oh well it’s only 42 rivets (times two).

Now we need to cleco the rest of the skin so we can rivet the counter balance (front of leading edge) and the ribs.

After riveting the ribs (trailing edge) I can attach the brackets on the Aileron, which attaches them to the wing.

The counter balance in the “nose” of the Aileron is pop riveted. There is no way you can rivet that differently.

I was looking for a call-out on the pop rivet I need to use for the bottom side of the aileron. Turns out it said in the manual that these holes need to be widened to #30, which I didn’t do. Fortunately I could still fix it by drilling them and deburring them to #30.

Here you can see the copper color cleco’s are now in there instead of the chrome ones.

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 244/1 (2019-01-23)

Time: 3 Hours, Rivets:  62/0 (2019-01-27)

Video

Instead of de-blueing the entire skin I do (as many others) only remove the blue vinyl from the rivet holes I need to rivet. The forward side (here the top) requires additional margin, because the leading edge skin overlaps. I use a soldering iron to (gently) melt small tracks into the vinyl and then remove the parts that need riveting.

Then the back riveting can start. Notice the steel plate beneath the Aileron skin and the “special” back-rivet set on the rivet gun. Riveting the aft most rivets, requires the skin to be bend a little. Not so much the bend is deformed.

Here you can see the steel plate better. Inserting all the AN4263-3.5 rivets in the dimpled skins.

Then applying the tape to keep them in place when turning the skins for riveting.
Although freezing cold outside, the sun was pouring through the window, overexposing my pictures.

After all the stiffeners are riveted to the skin we can start bending the skins to the final angle. I hesitated to be smarter than the plans of Van’s and rivet the spar and leading edge first to the top side of the skin. This would sincerely easy the rivet job. Fortunately I decided to stick to the plans, because if you see the amount of bending required, it would never have worked with a riveted spar.

Looks scary bending the skin to a pancake, but notice the spacing on the aft side. I don’t compress the original radius aft. However I do need to bend the skin all the way (until the stiffeners touch the other side).

The skins feathers back to the height of the spar. So now we can check if they are bend enough.

It looks great already (now another few hours of riveting). I clecoed the skin to the spar and added the leading edge skin. I riveted the first few rivets, but decided to stop.

It takes too much time and I’m afraid I don’t produce enough quality. I decided to cleco the right Aileron also and defer the riveting to a day my dad is visiting. With an extra pair of hands it is much easier and the quality will be on par.

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets: 244/1

Video

After deburring I use the Scotch brite pads to scuff the Aluminum, before dimpling. I specifically use this order to minimize the damage on the pads. You can only use them for one such a session, but scuffing without deburring will rip the pads apart quickly. Also scuffing after dimpling has similar effects, because the dimple rips the pad.

To dimple the skins, I really like the DRDT-2. According to some fellow builders the C-Frame is “better” because of the impact, but I don’t think Aluminum is affected that way. The DRDT-2 provides consistent dimples and is fast. Also if you give me a hammer, I might hit other stuff then just the plunger of the C-Frame.

I always check the other side if I got all holes. Sometimes I skip one (mostly due to printing on the blueing).

The same dimple sets that are used in the DRDT-2 can be used in the squeezer, with the same result. Due to the limited reach through the length of the yoke, this method is not applicable for skins. But stiffeners and ribs are easy dimpled this way. Ribs are almost impossible to dimple with the DRDT-2 because of the flanges.
The pneumatic squeezer is very versatile, because you can dimple and rivet with it. You have to be careful though, if you misfire it will punch holes in Aluminum of this thickness.

The narrow parts of the ribs are even for the squeezer unreachable. Here I use the dimple set with ordinary pliers. It’s really slow and cumbersome, but it is only a few holes that need this treatment.

The Spars and the doubler plates are too thick to dimple. It would distort, deform and probably damage the parts. Fortunately because of its thickness you can use the countersink drill (called machine countersink in the manual). Setting the depth of the drill once and then drill away.

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets: 0/0 (2019-01-09)

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets: 0/0 (2019-01-12)

Video

While I’m deburring the Aileron spar and the doubler plates, my dad works on the aileron stop notch, that should prevent the aileron from overstretching and probably damaging the top wing skin.

Now we need to match drill the leading edge of the Ailerons. The counter balance in the nose of the leading edge is a steel pipe.

We match drilled all the holes in the Aluminum. However the holes in the steel pipe (counter balance), I only marked them with the drill. The main reason is that I feared damaging the Aluminum skin (elongating the holes), because drilling through the steel takes long.

So after “marking” the holes (with the drill), I placed the steel pipe in the vices and drilled all the holes.

Last day of the year (2018). My goal was to finish the wing kit in 2018, but I’m at 75%. Not bad, but I lost some time on my planning. Meanwhile I ordered the Fuselage and that should arrive somewhere in March. So I have another two months to finish the Wing kit. That should be sufficient time, because the Ailerons and Flaps look pretty easy.

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 0/0

Video

Next task was bigger than I thought, which was finishing the Pitot tube and Angle of Attack sensor. Bending and flaring the Aluminum tubes to the connectors. I thought we could do this in half an hour, but it took almost two.

Magnificent sight both the Left and Right Wing in the cradle. After finishing the Aileron and Flaps and riveting the bottom skin they’ll probably be there for two to three years. My initial idea was to store them in the temporary “attic” in the workshop, however I’m afraid I’ll damage them putting them up there or getting them down. So I decided to store them in the cradle.

Next up, finding all the parts of the Ailerons. This is were carefully checking the shipment of Van’s and good inventory comes handy. Getting all the Aileron parts just took a few minutes.

However I did stumble on two ribs annotated as W-412, where the “W” indicates neither Flap (FL) or Aileron (A). I was a little startled and checked drawings. Finally I found them on DWG-9. Apparently NOT something I missed, but end ribs in the wing tips.

Making stiffeners is a four step process. My dad does the first two while I do the finishing tasks. The steps go from coarse to fine and are: cutting the individual stiffeners from a large (albeit pre-punched) Aluminum angle longeron; trimming the stiffeners with the snips; band-grinding the trimmed stiffeners to final size and lastly using the Scotch Brite wheel to “polish” the stiffener.

Here you can see steps 1 and 3.

And here are steps 2 and 4. The Ailerons have eight “ribs” made of a top and bottom stiffener, hence 32 stiffeners for both Ailerons. Again I’m trying to build Left and Right parts in parallel, aiming for better symmetry.

No I’m not redecorating, but although the earth is warming up, it’s still freaking cold in my workshop in the winter. So I decided to insulate it with old (unfortunately musty) drapes. This way my small electric heater can actually keep it above freezing level.
Priming actually went pretty well, but I don’t think (even with drapes) I can do any glass/resin work on my wing tips with these temperatures.

Having finished most of the Empennage and also a big part of the Wings and with the Fuselage in order, it’ll still take several winters before this puppy will fly. So these drapes will come handy in the coming winters (sounds discouraging when talking about winter in plural on my project).

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 3/3

Video

I love the smell of Aluminum in the morning! I placed the left wing in the stand, attached the tank and clecoed the top skin to it, in order to rivet it this weekend.

After five hours of doing little things here and there and cleaning up, the right wing could be placed in the wing cradle. The flap brace is the one with the lighting holes and the aileron fairing in the sloped strip between the aileron brackets.

Here’s the outboard aileron bracket, I used a flush rivet in the bottom hole, so the aileron won’t touch the bracket attachment. The aileron fairing is attached to the rear spar and the top skin.

In the center of the wing is the other aileron bracket. Again on the aileron side I used a flush rivet.

According to SERVICE BULLETIN 16-03-28, there can be Cracking of wing aft spar web at the inboard aileron hinge bracket attach rivet. Van’s Aircraft send me some doubler plates enclosed with the wing kit.

I attached the aileron bracket together with the new doubler plates. I did modify the plates by trimming the bottom side, to be able to buck the rivets when riveting the bottom skin.

The flap brace is thicker than the aileron fairing. It’s also attached to the rear spar, but will be clecoed together with the flap hinges to the bottom skin. So the ailerons are attached to the wings with brackets with bearings, while the flaps are attached to the brace with a piano hinge.

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets: 114/1

I purchased the Dynon Roll Servo Bracket kit in the U.K.
The original Van’s Aileron brackets look like this.

The trick is to replace the bottom one with the bracket of the Roll Servo kit.
On the (bottom) left the original bracket, on the right the Roll Servo bracket.

Installed and the bolts on the right torque. In hind sight I don’t think (pre)installing the Roll Servo bracket is beneficial. You can see the platenuts of the service hatch, so in my opinion it is just as easy to install it afterwards (when the skins are already riveted.

Maybe I need to install the entire kit including the Servo, although that would be a considerable investment. I’ll check with the NVAV.

Time: 1 Hours, Rivets: 0/0