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I started my Easter Sunday with a nice breakfast with my friend Glen and discussed all things RV as he is at the stage where he just finished attaching his tail to his fuselage to drill all the attach holes and control cables. We then headed to my Hangar to take the wings out of the stands. I unscrewed all the clamps and the 4 bolts that were securely holding the wings in their place. Each of grabbed hold of an end and presto they were free! I’m guessing they weigh ~ 40#? Pretty easy to lift and flip into position in the cradle. They were a perfect fit! Snug but just right to prevent any movement.
I then did a little rearranging and some adjustments to my wire shelves I found a new home for my wings for the rest of the build. I will say this weekend was one of my best in the Hangar.
Today’s task was to build the cradle the will hold the wings from this point on in the build. Before I made the run to Home Depot for the required supplies I had to attend to a few items on the wings. I had both tanks off and needed to rivet the 17 missing rivets, 7 on each wing. After those were done I returned the tanks to their rightful place and put in all the bolts to the z-brackets and torqued them to the 20-25 in/lb (which seems way light for AN3 bolts but I double checked and made a call to verify) and will put my orange torque seal on once the wings are flipped over in their cradle. I also replaced the screws along the skin edges. I only did half since I’m still thinking I will replace these with stainless steal ones and leave them unpainted. On our Lears the painted screws look fine until you need to remove them and then they never look the same after touch up paint. Then I grabbed the squeezer to finish off all the perimeter rivets. So what is this in the next photo? That’s right no more clecko’s in the wings!!! After spending a little time at Home Depot I got home with all the needed supplies. I decided to use 3/4″ MDF instead of plywood for the cost. I followed the plans from Van’s and used their dimensions. The cradle supports the outboard end with cutouts the shape of the leading edge. The other end had some notches cut out to support the main spar end. These ends are separated by a 8′ 2×4 and several angled supports to give the ends rigidity. I also added 4 castering wheels to allow me to move the wings around the Hangar.
I then added a strip of carpet to each of the cutouts as well as some pipe insulation to the nose area of the wing cutouts to give some added padding.
That took me most of the day so when I finished I took the time to clean up the hangar and put all the tools away from this weekends fun. I had a truck load of trash and items that I needed to take to the dumpster at work so I loaded up and made the trip. Before I left I removed all the blue film off the wing skins. I have read that the adhesive that is used for this film gets stronger over time and some builders have a real hard time removing it down the road. I also grabbed a rag and some alcohol and cleaned the wings of any adhesive and markings. Wow they sure look cool all cleaned up!
I solicited the help of my buddy for tomorrow to remove the wings from the stands and put them in the cradle, after a good breakfast of course!
9 am came early today as I stayed up pretty late last night to finish up the work in prep for riveting today and to watch a disappointing triple overtime loss to my Chicago Blackhawks in game #1. My friend Glen showed up all ready to go, his enthusiasm is very contagious! We got started by going over my completed work and his close eye inspection. I passed with his approval and some undeserved accolades, but coming from him I’m very appreciative. After the inspection and some hangar talk we got to it. The process started with a little learning curve for me working with a partner but I was a quick learner. The process was for me to handle the rivet gun and he would do the bucking. I would place a rivet in the hole and get the gun into position and say “ready”. He would then get the bucking bar ready and say “go”. I would give a burst of the gun and he would evaluate and say “good”. This pattern got pretty fast and we got in a groove real fast. We started on the inboard skin on the left wing followed by the outboard. We started in the middle of the skin at the forward edge and riveted left and right 4 rivets. Then down 4 rivets followed by 4 in each direction. This created a fan pattern and grew the farther we want. This pattern kept the skin from getting “oil canning” the effect you get when the skin isn’t tight and you can push on it and it kinda pops in and out like an old oil can. We did all the holes except the 2 rows where the skins overlap. Next was the outboard skin following the same pattern. With all those holes done we did the 2 rows of overlap. The only holes we didn’t do were the bottom edge along the rear spar and the very inboard edge as I can do them with the squeezer later. It tool us right 2 hours to do each wing for a total of 4 hours which I think was pretty good. We only had to drill one rivet out just because the bucking bar slipped and caused the rivet to topple a little. What a day in the Hangar! I finished up a couple other tasks like adding the rivets I missed on the main spar flange to aft rib flange. There is 1 rivet that is just those two pieces and gets covered by the tank skin. I was thinking they got riveted along with the skin but are actually covered. Glen caught my mistake and pointed it out so I could go back and get them. This required me to remove the tanks to get at them but not a big deal. I then closed up shop to go have dinner with Glen and a couple other builders. I will finish up the other tasks in the morning and then set out to build the wing cradle that will store the wings from now on. Time Lapse Video
In preparation for the top skin riveting I have several tasks that needed to be completed on them. The usual suspects like edge deburring, hole deburring and dimpling. But I also had a couple extra items as well. The first up was to scarf, thinning down the two pieces if metal to make them lay flatter, the forward corner of the two top skins where they overlap. You will see the overlap all the way down the wing skin from forward to aft as it is an overlap. The scarf joint helps the area of the overlap butt up and transition nicely where it meets the fuel tank skin. I marked the spot with a red arrow for you to see where the bulge is compared to the tank skin.
I marked the inboard skin with a piece of tape to let me know how far I can go on the filing.
The process was remove the skin and file down a little on top side of the inboard skin and a little on the underside of the outboard skin. Then replace the skins and evaluate and repeat as necessary.
I then spent the next 3 hours deburring all the edges and holes, man there is a lot of holes! For the skin edges I decided to try something new compared to the 1″ 3M wheel I usually use. I used good quality sand paper in 3 grits. I started with 180 then 320 and finished up with 400. I’m real happy with how easy it was and the speed at which I could get really nice edges. I then grabbed my edge rolling tool, if you don’t remember it places a small bend 1/4″ from the edge of a skin to allow the skin to sit flat when riveted to another skin.
I talked to my friend and fellow builder, Glen V., and secured his help tomorrow to rivet the top skins. He is a pro and is working on his second RV-8, the first was an award winner! I feel pretty lucky to not only bend his ear from time to time, have him inspect my work but to also volunteer to help build when I need it. So I needed to finish up these skins tonight to be ready for him. Out came the DRDT tool to dimple all the holes.
I then grabbed some primer to coat the scarf joint as well as the strip where the outboard skin overlaps the inboard.
Once the primer dried I clecko’d the too skins as well as the wing walk doubler to the wings for riveting tomorrow. Wow almost 9 hours in the Hangar today, love it!
Now if I could get the Blackhawks to beat the Blues in this 2OT game one!
Today’s task was to complete the left wing leading edge so that I can move on to the top skins. I started by putting the inboard rib in (this is the one that I had to replace) along with the spacer I made yesterday. I wasn’t sure if I would need it on this wing but figured it might be easier to put in before the other ribs were riveted as I had done yesterday. Well it was a little easier but not much. I put the leading edge on the spar with a few clecko’s and added the tank. I was happy to see that the alignment was pretty good so I’m glad I put the spacer in ahead of time. We will see how it all lines up after riveting as things tighten up with rivets compared to the clecko’s.
Unlike the right wing leading the left leading edge had holes punched in it on the forward edge for Van’s stall warning system. I decided to use an AOA (Angle of Attack) to determine an approaching stall. So these holes needed to be filled with rivets.
Next task was to grab the bucking bar and rivet gun and hit the skin to rib holes. I finished the top in about 45min before breaking for lunch.
After a short break for some lunch I got back at riveting. It took me about the same time to finish the bottom of the skin. I then put the leading edge on the spar and checked the fit. I repeated the process of yesterday by riveting the outboard and inboard rib with solid rivets while using the blind rivets LP4-3 & LP4-4 on the 3 middle ribs. The second outboard rib will also get solid rivets on both wings but I need help bucking those so they will wait for now. Next was to squeeze all the rivets along the aft edge on the top and bottom.
With the leading edge riveted on I grabbed the fuel tank and checked the seam alignment. I’m happy to say that it turned out really nice, a little better than the right wing.
The plans call for you to now put about half of the bolts in that hold the tank to the spar.
I wanted to complete one more task today before calling it a day. The next big step in the plans is to rivet the 3 pieces of the tops skins – the outboard, inboard and the doubler for the wing walk area. So I started with getting the doubler prepped for priming. I treated the edges and deburred all the holes before dimpling them with the DRDT tool. I wanted to get these pieces done since I decided that I was going to prime one side of them. I’m sticking to my plan of priming at least one surface where two bare surfaces come together. So one side of the the doubler will mate up to the inside of the skin, both of those would be bare hence my need for priming at least one of those surfaces. I got a couple of coats of primer on the side that needed it and will have a few days for them to cure.
I cleaned up the Hangar and headed inside to listen to a webcast presentation by aerobatic pilot Patty Wagstaff on an introduction to aerobatics.
I then did a little rearranging and some adjustments to my wire shelves I found a new home for my wings for the rest of the build. I will say this weekend was one of my best in the Hangar. 
