Van's RV-9A in Aurora

The Big Picture

The Big Picture
Flying! 8/28/2011

Sunday, October 26, 2008

4 hrs misc, 4 hours construction
Worked all day on the project, finally forcing myself to stop at 10PM.

First, yet another trip to Home and Aircraft Depot to buy some carriage screws for the jacks.

Then completed the jacks for the wing stand.


While the saw was setup, cut all the pieces for the wing cradle. Also setup the cross pieces that will be used to eliminate wing twist.



Finally, refined the leading edge cradle that the Gunnery Sergeant handed down to me. Yep, that's the same jig, you can recognize the paint. Mainly used the drum sander to smooth out the cuts, and then lined with felt strips cut from sheets bought at Michael's Aircraft Supply. The spray on 3M glue worked great for this application.

Used the new jacks to level the left wing frame.


Pulled the top skins. Predrilled the wing walk doubler. Started installing the top skins on the left spar. As I got the outboard skin on, I realized exactly what other builders were saying about the skin extending out beyond the spar. It's far enough that the wing support arm is in the way. I moved the spar about an inch further out, and now the skin clears. But I have to redo the twist clamps now.


Also set up the two plumb bobs to check for wing twist. The whole alignment process is very iterative. Get it roughly right. Set up the clamping mechanism. Do a rough check for twist.
Align the bottom spar horizontaly so the spars are exactly perpendicular. Rinse, lather, repeat.

Don't do this at 10 at night after working on it all day.