Van's RV-9A in Aurora

The Big Picture

The Big Picture
Flying! 8/28/2011

Friday, April 17, 2009

5 hrs, 48 rivets
With Dad's help, continued deburring aileron parts. Got most of it done except for the leading edge skins.
Then we countersunk the trailing edge wedges.



Finished rivting aileron/flap fairings to left wing. The McLellan clan came over to see the project, and we had fun getting as many people help with the fairing as possible. Mostly things like removing clecoes, and putting in rivets. Lori, Sarah, and Nora helped with that. Doc, Fred, Clint, and John helped squeeze a few of the rivets. And Sarah was the lone lady brave enough to try her hand at riveting.




Removed the right wing tank and attached the right tank cover. Also put in the quick drain and the filler cap. After that it was ready to check for leaks.
As I feared, it is leaking at the top baffle/skin joint, at the next to last outboard bay. I know exactly what I did wrong, and it was so easy to avoid. I was getting low on proseal as I used the squeeze baggie method while laying down the bead for attaching the baffle. At that spot, I just didn't use enough proseal. I'll try the thinned proseal/vacuum method of repair. If that doesn't work, I may need to drill out few rivets.