11/16/2008 Top wing skins riveted - 15 hours It was another hump-busting day in the shop today. I started out alone and began the day by attaching the top skins to the wing. I decided to ditch the idea of doing a scarf joint where the skins overlap and instead decided to notch the inboard skin (which goes underneath). The purpose of either the scarf or the notch is to allow the double-thick skins where they are overlapped to only be the thickness of one skin immediately behind the tank skin, so there is no disruption in air flow. After marking where the skins overlapped, I removed them and cut the notch with a ziz-wheel, then finished the edges with files and a deburring tool.
Dad then joined me in the shop and I checked the wing one last time for twist with the plumb bobs - no twist. We cleco'd the top skins on for the final time and riveted them in place. After the top skins are on, the wing is rigid enough to be removed from the jig, so that's what we did - we set the wing top-side down on the table with carpet on it. Then we pulled the wiring conduit through the holes in the ribs and installed the snap bushings in the smaller holes. I can't believe the wing is finally out of the jig - it's hard to believe it's been there for the better part of 8 months!
After pulling conduit, dad worked on getting the aileron hinge brackets built and installed, while I worked on the flap-gap and aileron-gap fairings. Here are pictures of the aileron hinge brackets installed and the flap-gap fairing installed:
Yet again, I saved the money shots for the end - the wing top skins, with the wing out of the jig:
