Lower Wing Skins Done

Over the past month I completed all the wing electrical, pitot/static and flight control pushrod adjustments. The ailerons were temporarily mounted, and a fixture tool is used to hold them in the center neutral position. The rod ends on the 2 pushrods in each wing are then adjusted as needed. The Dynon mast and Garmin pitot tube were fitted and the pitot and AOA lines run to it. All wiring harnesses were neatly secured, and an extra length of nylon string was run the length of each wing and secured to either end. This can be used as a fish tape in the future to run additional wiring in the wings as needed. With all that completed it was time to rivet on the outer lower wing skins. This was a time-consuming process due to the number of rivets in each skin and difficulty reaching many of the rivet shop heads with a bucking bar. You have to reach up under the leading edge of the skin initially and then through access cover openings and lightning holes. Many of the shop heads aren't visible with an inspection mirror so I had to take video or photos with my phone to inspect then after driving them. On the first wing my helpful wife ran the rivet gun while I bucked the most difficult rivets to reach on the aft spar. The learning curve was steep, and I was able to successfully rivet the second wing solo. It was satisfying to get all 808 rivets successfully driven and get those skins finished up. Once the skins were installed, I installed 16 nutplates in each wing to secure the inspection hatch covers.