Brief Description: Finished lower skin, Right wing done!!
Rivet lower skin. Finished the wing today. The hardest part of the skin was the lower edge at the rear spar. I was able to reach in and get to those rivets and then just worked my way towards the leading edge. The access holes are placed in good spots so it is possible to reach all the rivets. The only area that was difficult was the outboard end of the wing. I just didn't rivet the last two outboard ribs until I had the third rib in finished. Then I just worked my way outward. I am happy to be at this point. I received the kit the weekend before Christmas 2007. So it has been just ten months. Tail pieces are complete. Right wing complete. The left wing I hope will go much faster. I fabricated the parts for both sides while I was in the mood. Soon I hope to order the fuselage. I may do the fiberglass on all the tips first just to get the experence, but we'll see. So far the building process has been really smooth. The directions have been reasonably clear. Some areas have required a bit more thought before cutting, drilling, or riveting but overall if you take the time to fully understand what Vans wants you to do it has not been that hard. The perfectionist in me has not allowed any compromises of quality in the work. Not every rivet is perfect. I have several that I am not proud of. It is structurally sound and once complete nobody will ever see those imperfections. It is impossable to bang this many rivets and not make a few imperfections in the finished product. The key is to not accept the really bad ones. Drill those out and start over. The others....learn to live with them.
