Category Archives: Wings

Time: 0 Hours
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.

Time: 5 Hours

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

Time: 8 Hours

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!