Another option is to attach them permanently to the wings with rivets, either blind or solid rivets. I decided to go for the latter option.

Using solid rivets is a challenge, as the rivets at the trailing edge are hard to reach. I bought an inexpensive endoscope and connected it to a small laptop. This provides me with the ‘sight’ I need to determine if the rivets are set correctly.

Now I can reach in with the bucking bar and check the laptop to see whether I’m bucking at the right place and afterwards the quality of the work. Without the endoscope it’s really hard to check inside.

The aft most rivets can be reached by lifting the Aileron. Now that the bottom side of the right Wing is done we turn the Wing top side up on the workbench.

The rivets on the top side are even harder to reach. I duck-taped a hammer as a counter-weight to a stick and taped the bucking bar to the front.

Again by checking the endoscope image on the laptop we can determine the correct position.

With the right Wing finished, we now need to swap Wings. The workshop is too small to handle the swap, so I rolled the workbench out and positioned the cradle to insert the finished Wing.

Now we can lift the left Wing out of the cradle and place it on the workbench. Last stop is moving the cradle out of the way.

The left Wing is a little trickier, because the Pitot tube is in the way. Working on the bottom that is not a problem yet.

To determine the alignment of the Wing Tip, we use a string, that ‘cuts’ through the tooling holes, visualizing the chord. With that, we can position the Aileron in a exact level position.

With the Aileron set, we align the Wing Tip to match the Aileron. The aft most part of the Wing Tip has a small rib inside, because there is no Wing there to keep the Tip in shape.

Drilling the top would be easier the other way around, but with the Pitot tube turning the Wing is not that easy.

To prevent the glass fiber Wing Tip from cracking when riveted, we attach a small Aluminum strip on the inside.

Since the Wing Tip is very flexible, it is easy compressible. To prevent ‘floppy’ Wing Tips, I prepared a foam rib covered with fiberglass and epoxy resin to create a strong structure. Later I glued the rib with resin inside the Wing Tip.

Because I use Flyleds, the lighting panels can almost be completely removed. Now there is enough room to reach inside the Wing Tip. Also for maintenance purposes later.

Time: 7 Hours, Rivets: 29/0  (2020-08-08)

Time: 6 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2020-08-09)

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2020-08-10)

Time: 7 Hours, Rivets: 29/0  (2020-08-15)

Video

On the inboard side of the wings are several ribs that support the “wing walk”. These ribs are so close to each other that it is hard to get your hands (with bucking bar) in there. From the trailing edge until half way you have to work from the main spar side.

After that, the lighting holes in the ribs are big enough to get your arms through and work from the inboard side.
The outboard skin of the left wing contains the pitot tube and angle of attack sensor. I look the liberty, to buy a nice pitot tube, but that requires some extra rivets to attach it.

Because the doubler plate is on the other side of the main spar web than the skin, you cannot rivet the pitot tube assembly before attaching the skin. You have to rivet it all together.

Also I added some custom stiffeners to strengthen the construction and one of the stiffeners must be attached to the rib. Maybe overkill, but the price of the pitot tube convinced me to take precautions.

The outboard skin is wider and has only one access hole, hence you have to “work” with it to rivet the tight places. As you can see here, the skin is very flexible. Of course there is a limit to it and with folding the skins in the empennage and the ailerons, you kind of get the feeling how far you can stress the aluminum.

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 322/0

Video

Also the outboard skin is longer (wider) and has only one access hole. So e need to “bend” the skin more than the inboard skin.

However you have to be careful not to overstretch the skin and really dent the skin deforming it beyond repair.

You can reach the rear spar side via the forward side lifting the forward side of the skin. The main spar side can be reach via the holes in the ribs, lifting the side of the skin.

The last few rivets and the right wing is closed. Note the tape on the inboard rivet holes. These should not be riveted now, but are probably used for attaching the fairing that joins the wing and the fuselage.

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 293/5

Video

With the Flap brace countersunk and spit-primed, we started to see how to rivet the bottom skin to the wing. The plans are “clear” work in “L” shape, but it’s not clear which side the “L” should be.

At least I don’t want to bend (over-stress) the skin. First step is riveting the skin to the rear spar across the wing-walk ribs.

Checking the rivets is hard, because there is not much to see. With the flashlight I can check several of them. The rest is feeling if they are consistent.

I had to drill out five of them an reset them properly. The access holes in the bottom skin are really convenient, which makes me wonder how to do this on the outboard skin, which only has one hole and is much wider.

I have to concentrate on the inboard skin for now, because I’m clueless how to do the outboard skin. This one is already hard and it’s the easy one. Now reaching the rear spar through the access hole is hard, but I can just reach it.

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets:  207/5

Video

There are about 4 different lengths of flush rivets used, depending on the number and thickness of the Aluminum sheets. So we decided to rivet per length and skip those (by inserting cleco’s) in the holes that require longer rivets.

After about two hours we got the top skin attached to the main spar and ribs. This makes the wing quite rigid. We take it from the wing stand and lay it on the table for attaching the aileron hinges and fairing and flap brace.

The outboard aileron hinge is pretty straight forward.

On the inboard aileron hinge, there is the Service Bulletin to place doublers on the inside of the rear spar. Luckily our bottom skin is still off. I can imagine the frustration of receiving the Service Bulletin after you attached also the bottom skin.

No we can finish the bottom row of the skin with the squeezer, OH NO!! With the right wing we did this routine for the first time and I checked every step twice. Now I thought I could do it fast. But you cannot reach the rear spar once the aileron fairing is attached.

I hesitated to drill out all the rivets of the aileron fairing, but that are so many of them, I would probably screw that up and make it worse (hey after almost half a century even I start to recognize minor attitude issues). The space between the fairing and the top skin is too small for the yoke of he squeezer. Even the 4″ flat mouth does NOT fit, however my bucking bar does fit between these two pieces of Aluminum.

There goes efficiency of preserving work for the squeezer. Oh well, at least I can fix it without a huge amount of extra work and frustration or fubarring my wing.
The flap brace is NOT attached to the top skin, so the problem only exists at the outboard side of the aileron.

I’ve just received the “crating date” of the Fuselage kit I ordered. Van’s doesn’t report a shipping date, but a crating date (shipping is probably a few days later). My fuselage will be crated February 18th 2019. So with shipping and handling, it will probably take until mid March before I receive it. I’m not sure if I have enough work, since I only need to do the Aileron and Flaps and the bottom skin.
Maybe I can do the composite work on the Empennage and Wings, which I deferred. However specifically for the Wings the manual states that you should do the wing tips later after finishing the Fuselage, Engine and Finish kit, because they can be damaged easily.
We’ll see, but I’m not going to sit idle in my workshop twiddling my thumbs.

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets: 559/1

Video

We are deciding where to start with riveting. The leading edge and the tank is installed. According to the manual you start with the outboard skin in the middle going inward and outward interleaved.

Since you have to use rivets of different lengths, due to different thicknesses of material. I prepared the skin in such a way that cleco’s are in the holes that required different lengths to prevent error. Also we found just in time that the most inboard rib does leave some holes un-riveted for fairing assembly. So we put the cleco’s in those holes too.

The process is simple, every rivet is hammered with the rivet gun by my dad on the outside and bucked by me on the inside (times 500).

Careful inspection is required, because after closing the wing it is impossible to reset rivets.

We double checked the lengths of the push-rods of both wings. I learned that before I start drilling or sawing, I’ll explain what I’m about to do to either my dad or my wife and this way I tend to defend may actions, which will bring flaws into my reasoning to the front.

Ok, I must admit we are just admiring the result here. Now it really looks like an airplane part and it feels super flush. No protrusions or rivet seam.

I’m really amazed by the precision of Van’s kits. Being a first time builder (and a software guy), I didn’t expect this result. Although I tend to be anal in getting this right, I know my motor-skills are not sufficient to get these results. So kudo’s for the CNC-machines of Van’s Aircraft and there manuals.

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets: 558/0

Video

I checked the bottom (i.e. baffle) which is placed on its tank attach angles on cardboard beam. After filling the tank with water it turns out the cardboard stayed dry. Hence NO LEAKS!

After removing the water I visually checked the bottom meticulously, but found no traces of a leak.

I started early by myself and riveting the top rivets with the squeezer. Turned on the heater and placed all the cleco’s.

Later that afternoon my dad joined me and helped with riveting. Although you can do it by yourself, it’s much easier to do it with two persons. Through the access hole of the stall warner you can see the bucking bar at work.

We riveted both the left and right leading edges, so next time I can assemble them to the wings (main spar).

We discussed the overlap of wing skins. According to the manual joining the tank skin with the inboard and outboard skins that overlap, you need to file of the edges to make the connection less abruptly.

Indeed the two overlapping skins protrude significantly over the tank skin, so that needs to be reduced.

We decided to use the Scotch Brite wheel to “file” these of both the top and bottom skin.

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets: 352/0

Video

Using Cleco’s every 3rd hole to fastening the ribs to the skin. Notice the connecting strip between the leading edge and the Tanks and the “small rib” which is actually the bracket for the stall warner. Moreover I decided to NOT build the stall warner, but add an Angle of Attack sensor and indicator in the plane, which is much more precise than the mechanical stall warner.

The fit of the Left Leading Edge looked a little better than the Right one. The distance between the Right Leading Edge and the main Wing Skins was about half a millimeter. On the Left it’s an exact match.

Clecoing the ribs to the main spar. I’m wondering how I can rivet these, but let’s defer that doubt to the assembling section.

The connection strip needs an exact distance between the Leading Edge and the Tanks. Hence a caliper is used to insert the strip in there. Gently whacking the strip while holding the caliper to see if it’s correct.

Finishing the strip by drilling it with the skin holes as a guide. After that match-drilling all other holes in the skin.

Last step of the Leading Edge is widening (and positioning) the hole for the Tie-Down bolt. Notice the access plate for the stall warner. I’m going to check with Van’s if maybe the “bay” for the stall warner is suitable for the pitot tube. Of course I need to get the tube through the main spar so there’s that.

Time: 3 Hours, Rivets: 0/0

Video

With the Leading Edge Skin in the Tank Cradle, the skin is bend just right to insert the ribs and Cleco them. Although sometime it’s hard to get the most forward (on the bottom) Cleco in there.

Fitting the Leading Edge on top of the main spar was a good match, however there is a small “gap” between the top skin and the leading edge skin. Probably half a milimeter. Not sure if it is better to use epoxy resin to fill this gap (I’ll think about that later).

The most inboard rib is not pre-drilled and needs to be fitted “manually”.

Also an additional strip of Aluminum needs to be constructed, to connect the Leading Edge skin with the Tank skin. The instruction that this part needs to be constructed is on detail F on the drawing, but not in the manual. I really think Van’s could improve the manual by adding these hints in the text. It’ll probably take a complete page on the whole plane, so no worries there.

Drilling time, starting from the constructed plate down and outward.

Easy task, next time the Left Leading Edge and then prepare for the Tanks. I’ve read (sealant) horror stories on this, so I’m really eager to see if those are true.

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets: 0/0

Video

And start match drilling!

The top side all match drilled.

Now the bottom side, which you can recognize at the three access holes.

And when everything is done, you end with an empty spar again. Although now I read through it again and it says, let the top skin clecoed, to fit the Leading edge skin.

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 0/0

Video