Category Archives: Wings

Time: 2 Hours

I got home from my week in Wichita and the Bombardier Safety Standdown today a little after 2pm. I took care of a few household items and went right out to the Hangar. First up was to organize all the rear spar parts so that I had the left and right sides all in their correct spots. After reading a couple if builders websites I took their advise and studied the plans real well. There are several spots on the rear spar that get riveted with other parts later in the build. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t rivet this spots now and have to drill them out later. Once I had a good grasp on what spots needed to be riveted now I grabbed the blue painters tape and covered up the holes that get to wait.

I then setup the squeezer and adjusted for the first rivet length. Once I had it set up the rivets went pretty fast. I worked between the left and right spars so that I didn’t have to change the squeezer setup twice.

A could of photos from this week in Wichita. The Safety Standdown is a week of classes and seminars from industry leaders and experts. The classes ranged from airport operations, aircraft safety procedures to new technology.

Next up all the ribs when I get back from my recurrent flight training in Tucson…..oh boy!!!

Today I’m headed down to Wichita for Bombardier’s Safety Standdown. I forgot to mention this weekend that Van’s and more importantly FedEx came through and paid for my new wing skins that got damaged during shipment. They arrived nice and safe, this time rolled up rather than flat in the original crate.

Time: 1 Hour

Not a whole lot of pictures today, as all I did was finish up the priming of the rear spar components. Once they were dry I moved the smaller parts onto the shelves to rest and the spars indoors with the main spars!

I then organized the ribs for the left and right wings minus the fuel tank ribs. It is daunting how much work I have ahead of me with just prepping the ribs!

I will get to riveting the rear spar this Friday and Saturday when I get home from my safety conference then it will be on to the ribs!

Time: 6 Hours

Today my goal was to finish up both the left and right rear wing spars so that I could prime them tomorrow. This would allow me to prime them this weekend and have them ready to rivet next weekend. I have to be out of town to Wichita for a Bombardier safety conference. First up was to layout the all the parts for each side.

The plans have you match drill the two doubler plates to the spar.

The outboard doubler is supposed to have a row of flush rivets that tie the doubler, spar and end rib together, the plans call for countersinking here. I have read several builders sites that have dimpled instead of CS’ing. I decided to follow suite as I’m not sure about the thin material. I will just have to remember to dimple the flange if the rib.

Next up was to match drill the inboard doublers.

The center doubler also needed to have the aileron push tube hole cut in it. Once I had the holes all matched and drilled I used a sharpie to mark the area that I would need to remove.

I used my unibit to drill a couple of holes and then cleaned it up with my dremal’s small sanding drums. I then attached it back to the spar and fine tuned it with a Scotch-Brite wheel.

Once I had both the left and right sides done I cleaned up the shop a little to prep for priming. I debured all the drilled holes then hit everything with a Scotch-Brite pad. I bought a mini orbital sander from Harbor Freight and tried it here. The small pad has Velcro on it and holds a small square of Scotch-Brite pad really nice.

After the prep I cleaned everything real well with MEK and let them dry. While drying I cleaned all my tools and returned everything where they belonged. Then I hit the parts with primer. I will flip them over tomorrow and hit the other sides then.

Another great day in the Hangar!!

Time: 1 Hour

When I got home last night I was able to clean and prime the tie-down blocks. After letting them dry overnight I was able to get to riveting tonight. First up was to rivet the spacers and nut plates to the tie-downs. Once that was done I was able to bolt them to the spars.

After those are bolted to the spars I bolted the aileron bell crank brackets to the spars. These bolts go through the spar and into the nut plates that were riveted to the tie-downs.

I decided to go with Dynon avionics for my panel so I ordered the Dynon autopilot servo for the ailerons. I did this so that I can attach it to the right wing spar. This bracket takes the place of the bottom stock one that Van’s sent. Just a little easier now than later.

I torqued all the bolts to 25 in/lbs and applied orange torque seal. This allows you to see if the nut or bolt has moved since being torqued. Next up is the rear spars. While I work on those I needed a place to store the main spars, what better place than in my living room! 😉