It was supposed to be a day spent Xmas shopping. The weather, however, had other ideas!
Once we got bored of the snow everyone settled in for a day of chilling which, of course, for an RV builder means time in the workshop.
I was hoping the snow would stop and we could resume our original plans so I started with something small. I found the aileron gap fairings and scuffed and deburred them.
Once that was done the snow showed no signs of easing off so I considered finding all the parts for the ailerons and making a start on those. Problem was I had no room on the workbenches so I decided to mount them on the wing ready for riveting. I started by joint compounding all mating surfaces of the wing walk doubler to ribs.
I then fitted the wing walk doublers and cleco’d them from the inside out so they wouldn’t get in the way of the skin that sits on top.
The snow was still falling hard so I covered the wing walk doublers with JC5A compound and then did the same with the next 4 ribs to take the inboard skin.
I had a break for lunch but still the snow came down hard so I carried on. This time with the outboard skins.
That’s all 4 skins fitted and ready to rivet on permanently. Once fitted I decided to check the wing twist just in case there had been any major movement since I put the spar on the frame. The right wing Inboard measured 2 23/32″…
The outboard end measured 2 25/32″.
That’s just a 1/16″ difference between the inboard and outboard ends. Not bad at all. I did the same on the left wing which had a difference of 3/32″ which is fine too. I’m sure these will disappear once the skin is actually riveted in place.
Now that the leading edge, fuel tank and top skins are all in place it was time to remove the support jacks. Goodbye jack!
After 4.5 unexpected hours in the workshop I’ve had enough for one day! It’s still snowing by the way!