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The tooling rod
As I did for the outboard wings, I installed a "tooling rod".
This allows to keep the ribs parallel during the "blind" drilling of
those ribs. I was very satisfied with this method when I built my
outboard wings. |
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Bottom skin quickly positioned
I cut the bottom skin slightly oversize for installation. This allows me
to cut the skin perfectly flush with the rear Z. For the rib position, I
measured the skeletion and transfered the rivet lines on the skin. Then,
I predrilled with #40 drill. When I installed the skin on the skeletion,
I checked everything for proper alignment with the ribs. Always being
worried about edge distance, my rivet lines (for the walkway ribs) are a bit
nearer to the radius of the bend than the edge of the flange (which is not a
bad thing at all). |
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Oups... it's OK
After I fixed the extrusions under the gear box ribs on the left side, I
noticed that I had a wong rivet pitch around the spar (to avoid edge distance
problems, I must have 30mm between the rivets around the spar cap). This
part is to be installed with rivet pitch of 20mm. So, I had to make a
new part and copy the exact position of the holes for riveting. What I
did is to cut the original extrusions lenghtwise and put the flat horizontal
portion on top of the new extrusion. I was then able to match drill the
parts and the new one fitted exactly like the old one! |
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It's been a long time since I had a picture of me :)
Here I am drilling the extrusions around the gear box. A couple of thing
to notice here... first, I installed a temporary L angle joining the bottom of
the gear slides to assure proper distance. I also clamped the extrusion
with the box to the slides for thightness. So far, it appears that this
has been a very good move (the distance between slides appear to have stayed
as I wanted it). |
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Et Voilą!
I installed the gear leg just to see the fit. I did not installed the
strip on the top of the wing yet (with the 2 inch hole). This will be
tricky as the hole on the bottom box (lower bearing) has to match exactly the
holes of the upper bearing and the position of the cross tube against the
slides. I'll see how I do that later. |
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Time for a cleanup!
I had a volunteer to help me clean up all my mess. Mathieu has been very
effective with the vacuum cleaner. I wonder how many clecoes have been
lost in the process...? :-) |
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Bottom nose skin
After the experience gained in building the wings, it seems much easier.
I predrilled the bottom of the nose skin using my drilling template and rib
position measurements (I applied the template in position and then, moved the
skin a few inches to pre-drilled.) I was able to see the marks for the
rivet lines through the pre-drilled holes. This ensures proper
positioning and also that the ribs are square with the spar. |
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Riveting the bottom skin and extrusions
I used my pneumatic riveter for the skin, but for the extrusions, I did
not have enough space. I modified my hand riveter (ground the head on
one side) to make it possible to rivet those extrusions adequately. |
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Positioned the lower bearing supports
As seen, I pre-drilled everything to #20 because I do not have AN3 bolts yet
and I don't have the 3/16" clecoes (at the time of writing this, I just
ordered them from Aircraft Spruce). |
