The wings are done (for now) and pushed to the front of the garage! Now the next few days to weeks will be filled with inventorying the fuselage kit. What an exciting day! I have some serious counting to do, but also some serious reorganization. If I am to fit a full fuselage in here […]
Can you feel it? I’m nearly to the point of opening the large box containing the fuselage. It’s KILLING me. Completing the linkage is quite fun. All the mechanical bits–it’s nice to have a break from sheet metal. This was my first venture into the land of white primer. It’s tough to work with. It […]
Well after this image I took several hours getting the flap hinge drilled to align the flap exactly how I wanted. The video goes into detail, but it wasn’t easy. Challenge is keeping all training edges in trail, flap-to-aileron gap consistent and correct (1/4″), and hold it all there without the use of clecos until […]
Final riveting of the flaps proved difficult. Sealing without a warp was tough–though I found that many flying planes sport a 1/8″-1/4″ warp with no perceivable flying impacts. I was able to eliminate nearly all warps by working with a flat surface, a lot of weights, and actively working out warps with shims. Riveting the […]
Still on the flaps. Again, easiest doesn’t mean easy. There are some stumbling blocks here, but I should be able to bust up and prime soon. Instructions said shims might be necessary, but I’ve determined my “rear spar” can fit against the ribs nearly perfectly with some adjustment. Be careful doing this, as my video […]
I’ve started the flaps. These are entertaining pieces with match plates, ribs, and some fairly unique skin alignment that incorporates a “rear spar” into the bottom skin. The flaps are supposedly the easiest control surface of the plan. Easiest still doesn’t mean easy, as nothing about this is easy, per se. However, I am finding […]
Finishing the ailerons was fairly uneventful. Getting the weldments attached correctly was a bit of a chore, and space was limited. I did wind up modifying (grinding away) an open-ended wrench in order to tighten some locknuts. Riveting the top and bottom spar strips required weighing the aileron down flat on the workbench. I used […]
The aileron construction is a little fiddly. You have to attach ribs to the pipe, which I’ve found alignment to be a pain. Drilling and countersinking the pipe leading edge is also a bit of a pain. If these holes aren’t plumb(?) the rivets will pull crooked and ruin the finish of the leading edge. […]