Saturday had about 3 hours of building, and Sunday had about 4 hours.

On Saturday we got the forward strut attach point bolted along with all the other related pieces drilled into place. Tightening the bolt closest to the skin is a major pain. Maybe some sort of inspection port nearby would be a benefit.

Sunday I fabricated the flaperon positioning template and got the flaperon arms into place. I found a good way to check if the holes are co-linear. Just use a spool of thread. Have one person hold the thread tight on one end, and then hold it tight on the other. If the holes are not co-linear then the thread will indicate which way the bracket needs to be moved.


I bought a right angle adapter from Home Depot a while ago, and it came in handy. The builders manual shows a nice way of not damaging the skin when using the drill in tight spots... a nice tip to have had earlier. My variation used an extra piece of heavy wing channel that had to be trimmed off. Since the wing channel is bent on both sides, the chuck can not move the protecting piece out of the way.

There is an optional step to place the tie down rings. I do not remember receiving the tie down brackets, although I could fabricate my own. The position of the brackets confuses me. It seems that attaching the bracket to the fifth rib is not the strongest place. Why is the loop not attached to the strut support? The strut support already is attached to the spar which would be a better place in case of a wind storm around here.



Project Status:
Wings: 60h ( 1h, 1h, 0.5h, 2.5h, 4h, 1h, 1.5h, 1h, 1.5, 4.5, 1h, 1h, 2h, 4h, 1h, 3h, 1h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1h, .5h, .5h, 2h,3h, 1h, 3h, 3h, 4h )
Flaperons: ( DONE! ) 23.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1h, 1h, 1h, 1.5h, 3h, 6h, 3h, 4h, 1h )
Paint Design: 2 hours spent ( 1h, 1h )
Elevator DONE!: ~31.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1.5h, 3h, .5h, 3.5h, 2h, 4h, 1.5h, 2h, 4.5h, 1h, 6h )
Horizontal Stabilizer DONE!: ~28 hours spent, 3 pieces replaced ( 3h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 3.5h, 1.5h, 5, 4.5, 2h, .5h )
Rudder DONE!, minus horn : ~16 hours spent, ( ~8h, ~8h )
-----------------------
Total Done: ~163.5 hours

On Sunday we 1) Finished trimming the rear wing skins 2) Drilled them into place 3) Got the nose skin clecoed into place and confirmed the slat support slots were in the correct position.

The manual shows how to cut the flaperon hinge slots into the rear skins with a drill. I tried to do that for a few holes and ended up wandering with the bit too much. A much better approach is to use a reinforced cutting blade on a Dremel.

Thursday we got a package of 200 silver clecos from Wicks... which is possibly too many clecos.

I freshened up on my float skills today with splash downs in Lake Washington and the Snohomish river. Drivers on the 522 bridge got a show as we approached down into the river and passed overhead by less than 50 feet. Then some fishermen got a show as we flew along the river about 10 feet off the deck making tight turns to follow the river bed. I could make out details on one of their faces....

Project Status:
Wings: 53h ( 1h, 1h, 0.5h, 2.5h, 4h, 1h, 1.5h, 1h, 1.5, 4.5, 1h, 1h, 2h, 4h, 1h, 3h, 1h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1h, .5h, .5h, 2h,3h, 1h, 3h )
Flaperons: ( DONE! ) 23.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1h, 1h, 1h, 1.5h, 3h, 6h, 3h, 4h, 1h )
Paint Design: 2 hours spent ( 1h, 1h )
Elevator DONE!: ~31.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1.5h, 3h, .5h, 3.5h, 2h, 4h, 1.5h, 2h, 4.5h, 1h, 6h )
Horizontal Stabilizer DONE!: ~28 hours spent, 3 pieces replaced ( 3h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 3.5h, 1.5h, 5, 4.5, 2h, .5h )
Rudder DONE!, minus horn : ~16 hours spent, ( ~8h, ~8h )
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Total Done: ~156.5 hours

Monday I got a little time in to start trimming and placing the rear right trailing edge wing skins. While the plans normally show the right side of an object, the skins are sometimes shown as they appear on the left side. Take note and be careful.

EAA is tonight, so probably no building will happen. I expect Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to be a full on spree!

Project Status:
Wings: 53h ( 1h, 1h, 0.5h, 2.5h, 4h, 1h, 1.5h, 1h, 1.5, 4.5, 1h, 1h, 2h, 4h, 1h, 3h, 1h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1h, .5h, .5h, 2h,3h, 1h )
Flaperons: ( DONE! ) 23.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1h, 1h, 1h, 1.5h, 3h, 6h, 3h, 4h, 1h )
Paint Design: 2 hours spent ( 1h, 1h )
Elevator DONE!: ~31.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1.5h, 3h, .5h, 3.5h, 2h, 4h, 1.5h, 2h, 4.5h, 1h, 6h )
Horizontal Stabilizer DONE!: ~28 hours spent, 3 pieces replaced ( 3h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 3.5h, 1.5h, 5, 4.5, 2h, .5h )
Rudder DONE!, minus horn : ~16 hours spent, ( ~8h, ~8h )
-----------------------
Total Done: ~153.5 hours

Another 200 silver clecos are on their way.

We found some time over the week and on Sunday to align the spar and support the trailing edge in such a way to ensure no twist. The bottom skin was pre-drilled and fit over the skeleton fairly well. Since there is a bit of a curvature to the bottom of the wing ribs we ended up using some duct tape to help hold the skin towards the trailing edge to help keep the skin from beer canning. Over all this was the easiest skin to apply yet.

Project Status:
Wings: 52h ( 1h, 1h, 0.5h, 2.5h, 4h, 1h, 1.5h, 1h, 1.5, 4.5, 1h, 1h, 2h, 4h, 1h, 3h, 1h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1h, .5h, .5h, 2h,3h )
Flaperons: ( DONE! ) 23.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1h, 1h, 1h, 1.5h, 3h, 6h, 3h, 4h, 1h )
Paint Design: 2 hours spent ( 1h, 1h )
Elevator DONE!: ~31.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1.5h, 3h, .5h, 3.5h, 2h, 4h, 1.5h, 2h, 4.5h, 1h, 6h )
Horizontal Stabilizer DONE!: ~28 hours spent, 3 pieces replaced ( 3h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 3.5h, 1.5h, 5, 4.5, 2h, .5h )
Rudder DONE!, minus horn : ~16 hours spent, ( ~8h, ~8h )
-----------------------
Total Done: ~152.5 hours

We did not build on Sunday, but rather took a nice long file up to the tulip fields.

The weather was threatening on Saturday so we drove to Wick's. The traffic was horrible and conditions only improved.

In the end they only had 70 silver clecos, but anything helps.

Wednesday night we spent about half an hour securing the spar and ribs to the table.

We ended up having to remove several of the small shims securing the ribs since they interfered with moving the skeleton to match the pre-drilled holes on the skin. Using several rafter squares clamped to the rib and spar worked wonderfully.

Thursday saw a good two hours of drilling the top, rear starboard wing skin into it's respective skeleton. This would not have been possible without the generous lending of clecos to me.

The electric drill did a much better job of drilling into the spar, while the air drill was faster drilling into the ribs.

Hopefully I can get up to Wicks on Saturday and buy another two hundred clecos or so. I'm also low on zinc chromate.

I also got to see one of the many RV-7 projects our chapter has. Van's is really onto something with matched-pair drilling. If the RV-12 kit has the same amount of pre-drilling on the skins AND the ribs, then the 601 will have some real competition in the LSA area.

Project Status:
Wings: 49h ( 1h, 1h, 0.5h, 2.5h, 4h, 1h, 1.5h, 1h, 1.5, 4.5, 1h, 1h, 2h, 4h, 1h, 3h, 1h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1h, .5h, .5h, 2h )
Flaperons: ( DONE! ) 23.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1h, 1h, 1h, 1.5h, 3h, 6h, 3h, 4h, 1h )
Paint Design: 2 hours spent ( 1h, 1h )
Elevator DONE!: ~31.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1.5h, 3h, .5h, 3.5h, 2h, 4h, 1.5h, 2h, 4.5h, 1h, 6h )
Horizontal Stabilizer DONE!: ~28 hours spent, 3 pieces replaced ( 3h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 3.5h, 1.5h, 5, 4.5, 2h, .5h )
Rudder DONE!, minus horn : ~16 hours spent, ( ~8h, ~8h )
-----------------------
Total Done: ~149.5 hours