Week 5: Starting on Wings

Since I am still waiting for the M4 riv-nut mandrel and the wire I ordered before I can assemble the vertical stabilizer, I moved on to the wings. I started by unpacking and checking the inventory of the wing kit. I left the skins in the crate since I don't have a great place to keep them, but everything else was accounted for and put on a shelf. I am planning to completely build the right wing before starting on the left since I do not have enough space for both.

The first assembly step was the right rear spar. Since helps bear the load of the wing I decided to completely prime it. This assembly used a whole can of primer, so I am going back to mating surfaces only for all the wing ribs and skins. There are a lot of holes in the spar that do not get riveted during this step, so I marked them with painters tape to make sure I didn't forget.

I assembled the skin extension and reinforcement parts, but before I riveted the skin support I looked ahead in the plans to see how it would impact future steps. Another builder had pointed out that if the rivets are installed from the center of the wing towards the back they could interfere with the ailerons. While not completely clear the plans do seem to show the rivets installed from the back towards the middle, which I believe would prevent this issue. I decided that the skin support would prevent some rivets from being installed this way, so I decided to wait and rivet that on after the ribs are all installed.

With the spar done for now, the next step was some rib subassemblies. On the first one I noticed there were some notches to clear the rivets on the control rod bushing bracket. These rivets were in contact with the edge of the notches, so I used some fine grit sandpaper to slightly enlarge them. Another one of the rib subassemblies had a similar bracket that seemed to have a notch in the wrong place. After double checking that I had the correct parts and that the orientation matched the drawing, I decided the best option was to make a new notch to clear the rivet.

I have a few more rib subassemblies to put together, then some additional ribs that will need mating surfaces primed only. When those are done the next steps on the wing will be countersinking holes on the main spar and assembling the ribs to the spars. I think the timing will work out well that I can go back to the vertical stabilizer before I start assembling the wing. That way I can get it finished and out of the way before all my workspace gets used up with the wing assembly.