The Wing stand (with the Right Wing) is placed to the left wall. So we can place the Left wing on the workbench.

We have to remove the Left Tank from the wing, because we need to attach a wire to the Fuel Level Sender (I forgot) and to install a wider Fuel Return Line (I made the wrong assumption). I built the return line just in case I would select a fuel injected engine (which I did). However I assumed the return line didn’t need to be that wide. Right?!

I remove the bolts that fasten the Wing to the Fuselage, while my Dad “wiggles” the Wing, to remove it from the main bulkhead.

I decided not to remove the Tank right now and first fix the Fuel Return Line. As you can see the wing barely fits in the workshop.

With the Wings detached and set aside, we can now maneuver the Fuselage outside.

The door of the workshop is not wide enough to fit the Landing Gear, however we can lift it to the side, so we can drag the plane outside.
No idea how to do this if there is a heavy engine in it, we’ll see.

It’s like a puzzle. Now we rearrange the workshop with the Wing Stand.

And also with the workbench, so we can push the Fuselage back in again.

Backwards is harder, as you need to keep the tail-wheel straight. I opened the Left Tank via the hole that normally holds the Fuel Level Sender.

However that hole is not used for that, as the Sender is in the second or third compartment due to the Flop Tube. With the endoscope we can check the location and routing of the Fuel Return Line.

We removed the “old” Return Line and inserted the new Return Line.

We cleaned up the cover plate and we can use the remaining Tank Sealant to seal the plate to the Tank.

Because I stored the Tank Sealant in a cellar, it is kept cold and I can still use it.

I use the sealant also to keep the return line in position and I covered both the Tank and the plate with it.

Time to screw the plate in place and remove the tank from the wing.

After a night of testing the Tank turns out to be sealed (again).

Time: 7 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2020-11-15)

Time: 2 Hours, Rivets: 58/1  (2020-11-16)

Video

While the right wing snapped in real easy in place, we had less luck with the left wing. Every time we run into issues, the endoscope is a real help. This time it allows us to see the alignment of the holes.

To set the wing exactly perpendicular to the fuselage, I use a laser measure, to check the distance from a specific point on the wing tip to the attachment point of the horizontal stabilizer.

With the plane level to the ground, we use a level and a template to set the correct angle of incidence. We do this on multiple points on the wing, which should all result in the same angle of incidence.

With both the sweep angle and the angle of incidence set, we can drill the hole through both the secondary bulkhead and the rear wing spar.

Before the wing cover plate can be fitted, the fuel tubes sticking out need to be trimmed and bend.

The cover plate needs to be match drilled with the bottom skin of the fuselage. Again I’m remembered that safety glasses are an indispensable tool when drilling above head.

Drilling the top part of the cover plate is tricky as the inside skin tends to dip down. With a wrench and an angle, I keep the plate in place, while my dad does the drilling.

With the wing set, I can now attach the flap and fit the flap push rod.

Time: 8 Hours, Rivets: 58/1  (2020-11-04)

Time: 8 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2020-11-08)

Time: 6 Hours, Rivets: 12/1  (2020-11-11)

Video

Especially the lateral adjustment with the washers is important.
Once the Aileron is set, I use an Aluminum angle to align the Flap.

First I drilled the outboard and inboard most rivet holes in the piano hinge.

Than drilling and cleco-ing all the other rivet holes.
We can now remove the Flap and start riveting the piano hinge together with the last piece of bottom skin to the Flap brace.

Wherever possible I use the pneumatic squeezer.
Now we can attach the Flap with the piano hinge.

According to the plans there are two ways to lock the piano hinge. One is to drill a small hole (off center) in the Aileron hinge, the other is to remove some piano hinge “eyes” in the middle and lock it there.

I decide to take the first approach, but I’ll execute that later (much later, when I attach the wings to the Fuselage.
Now with the Aileron and Flap attached to the right Wing, we move it to the other side of the workshop to work on the left Wing.

Else we had to lift the left Wing over the right one, which is not convenient.
With the Wing stand on the other side we can easily pick up the left Wing and place it on the table.

We have to be careful, because the pitot-tube is extending from the bottom side.
Now we can repeat the actions for the left Wing.

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 190/1 (2019-03-03)

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets:  92/0 (2019-05-12)

Video

Here’s the right bottom skin with the ribs riveted to the bottom skin and the bend in the skin that serves as the rear spar of the Flap. It’s vital to mark all parts including the order (not all spars are equal).

Although the inboard and outboard ribs go last, you need to cleco them to rivet the doublers and nutplates for the flap actuators.

The bottom and top skins must be riveted together on the bottom side. However on the leading edge the Flap is not closed. The rear spar of the Wing serves as the front of the Flap.

There is not much space to rivet the skins and ribs, so you have to follow the plans to prevent riveting yourself in a corner.

Just before the inboard and outboard ribs, you close the Flap, by inserting the front spar. This one can be riveted to the top and bottom skin, but joining it to the ribs must be done with pop-rivets.

After closing the left flap, we now do the same with the right Flap. Again I build left and right in parallel wherever possible.

After pop-riveting the main spar to the ribs we can rivet the top and bottom skin. The latter can be done by the squeezer, however the top skin is “curled” and requires the rivet gun and bucking bar.

Oh yeah don’t forget the piano hinge when riveting the bottom skin to the main spar or you have to drill out 50 rivets or so.

Time: 2 Hours, Rivets:   45/0 (2019-03-27)

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets:  114/0 (2019-04-14)

Video

This results in about 7 short seasons in the last 3 months where I worked en the flaps preparing them for priming.
Starting of as always with the deburring of the parts. In this case the lighting holes in the Flap Spars.

Instead of deburring the flenge sides with a file or sand paper, the Scotch Brite wheel is so much easier and delivers a better result.

Assembling the flaps for match drilling. I work on left and right in parallel. The Wing where I’m also working on is also on the table.

Match drilling the spar to the end ribs of the spar. On this part there is some extra work as there are doublers to attach the flap drive to.

Here you can see the doubler of the Spar. There is also a doubler of the inner rib. Both will be riveted together to create a strong construction.

The finished result before priming that is. Now I have to detach every thing again and clean it up for priming.

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets:  0/0 (2019-02-06)

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets:  0/0 (2019-02-16)

Time: 3 Hours, Rivets:  0/0 (2019-02-20)

Time: 2 Hours, Rivets:  0/0 (2019-02-27)

Time: 2 Hours, Rivets:  0/0 (2019-03-02)

Time: 2 Hours, Rivets:  0/0 (2019-03-09)

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

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