Construction Log: Wings TOTAL TIME:
DATE DESCRIPTION OF WORK
TIME
12/11/2000
Ordered for early 2001 delivery of XL wings
1/14/2001
Started building again today! Unfortunately, the wife and son passed through
the shop fighting, causing just enough distraction for me to destroy a flap skin.
Damn it...
Pre-drilled the skin on the remaining flap. Had to trim the ribs a little, they
where a touch too long for the flap. Positioned the ribs inside the flap. The
wife and son came through again, so time to stop before I do something stupid again.
1/20/2001
I must be doing something wrong...the flaps are EASY!!! (and I even
messed one up, but whose counting!) The right flap is now done.
2/13/2001
Wow it is hard to keep up with the logs when you're drilling holes!
Finished the right aileron in about 10 hours.
Trimmed the nose ribs, made the bellcrank supports/doublers, made the
walkway doublers, and drilled the nose ribs to the spar in about 15 hours.
Got an email of encouragement, so I will try to do better on the logs/photos.
2/26/2001
Made the bellcranks, drilling the 1 1/4" hole with a hole saw. Worked
out okay, but had to file a bunch scratches out. No big deal and scotch-brite
produced a perfect finish.
Riveted et.al. the rear ribs to the main and rear spar. Drilled the aileron
control hole with the same 1 1/4" hole saw. No problems.
Kermit Dixon, Cameron McElhinny, and Scott Sledge came over and helped me jig
the skeleton for skin. We got the top rear skin drilled and got the assy flipped
over and ready for wire. Many thanks to them.
3/11/2001
Got the wing wired for nav/strobes. Drilled a hole in the web of each rib for
wire routing. Grommets for wire protection.
Positioned the rear skin and drilled to place. Had a very slight ED problem with
the flap hinge, but "walked" the holes aft as I stepped up through #40, #30,
and #20 holes. Ended up OK.
Cameron came over and helped me get the bottom rear skin drilled.
Kermit came over and came up with a clever way to layout the nose skin. The
result was a predrilled nose skin that hit the center line on every nose rib
and the centerline of the spar cap angle. His method was to extend the nose rib
centerlines onto the rear skin as well as a trace of the aft edge of the nose skin.
Then, pick a point for the first (from the spar) hole in the
rib flange that provided good ED. Measure back from the
trace mark to the hole and transcribe this measurement onto the nose skin for
drilling. Once the hole was drilled, a rivet fan was clecoed to it. The
rivet fan not only lays out evenly spaced holes, but also a straight line of them.
All that was left was to layout all the holes and predrill them. I was not looking
forward to this part, but it went very smoothly.
Made the tie down hook.
4/6/2001
Cameron helped me rivet the bottom skin. Word of advice, when they say make sure
there are no clecos inside the wing, do it! I had to test my flexibility getting
a couple I missed out through the lightening holes.
Drilled the pilots for the top nose skin.
4/17/2001
Drilled the skin to the nose ribs and the spar cap. No suprises, but it is still
a pain in the butt. Oh well, only one more to go.
Built the wing tip channels. Fluting tool worked real well. Material went right
into shape with no problems.
Trimmed rear skins for wingtip. Scrap made into bellcrank access covers.
6/11/2001
Wow, there I go again not keeping up with logs...I guess I will list what is done.
Vacation
Right wingtip.
Right wing nose rib grommets.
Right wing cutouts for fuel vent and fuel drain.
Left wing rear ribs including bellcrank, walkway doublers, etc.
Left wing aileron, including trim.
Also, the left flap and left nose ribs are in work, along with the rest of the right
wing fuel system.
6/24/2001
Made the cutout for the flush fuel cap on the right wing tank. Used ZACs method
of using a clear plastic sheet. The hole was cut with a circle cutter turned by hand.
Once one spot cut thru, the circle actually pealed out like openning a Pepsi can.
Finished the left flap.
6/30/2001
Made the cap reliefs in nose ribs 1,2,3,4.
Made fuel line wiring cutouts in nose ribs 1,2,3,4.
Drilled all the nose ribs to the left spar.
Finished/attached the left spar tip.
7/01/2001
EAA TECH COUNSELOR
EAA Tech Counselor James Williams came by to check on my progress.
Trouble area #1. Rivets that goes thru LE Skin, TE Skin, Spar Cap Flange, and
Rear Rib Flange (that is ONE location description, or only 9 rivets, one at each
rear rib) showed signs of improper set. I will drill them out, get a better
fit of the rib flange and reset.
Trouble area #2. Nav/Strobe wires routed thru holes that are too small. I will
pull wire out, bump the size of the holes up, and re-route wire. I will also add
one more wire to the bundle for a 3 way light (Nav/Strobe/Position).
As always, the visit was informative and very helpful. All builders should take
advantage of the Tech Couselor program.
7/15/2001
Fixed the 2 problem areas from the Tech Counselor visit
Plumbed/wired/installed fuel system.
CLOSED WING!!! YIPPEE!!!
12/30/2001
Once again, WAY behind on logs. This time I will say what is NOT done.
Left wing needs fuel tank installed, landing light installed, wired for nav/strobe,
wired for trim, some wingtip work, and the aileron installed. Other than that, it is done.
This wing is going considerably faster with less problems than the other, oh the power of
experience.
Ran out of A4s because not enough shipped with the kit. ZAC, in an apparent never ending
quest to impress me more each time I deal with them had more at my door within a couple days.
01/01/2002
Installed the landing lights (minus lexan lens).
02/18/2002
Well, poor logs again, but hey, I've been busy building an airplane!
Installed fuel tank.
All wiring is done.
Pitot/Static plumbed.
02/23/2002
Installed the aileron.
Deburred, corrosion protected, and closed the wing.
02/25/2002
Built the fluted angles for the wingtip.
Rough cut the outboard edge of the rear skins for the wingtip.
03/03/2002
Rough cut the outboard edge of the leading edge for the wingtip.
Drilled channel to outboard edge of upper rear skin.
03/09/2002
Finished out the wingtip.
YIPPIE!!! The wings are done!
