May 07, 2023     Push pull tubes complete (wings done for now) - (1 hour) Category: Wings

The tubes were scuffed, cleaned and primed inside and out. The ends were pop riveted on, rod ends installed.

This marks the end to the wings for now. I will fully complete them later on in a year or so.

Need to finish the wiring, wing tip install, bottom skins, connect pitot, aoa lines and install the AP roll Servo and temp probe.

  May 05, 2023     Push pull tubes - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Aileron push pull tubes cut to length and drilled. I decided to leave them a bit long until I mount the wings so that I can be sure I have the proper length. Next up, prime them inside and out then pop rivet them. After that, that should close out the wings, Atleast for right now.

  Apr 27, 2023     Flap hinge work and finish - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Once the flaps were drilled I had two options on how to retain the hinge pin so that it won't come out. I chose version two with a slight variation utilizing a screw, plate nut and pieces of hinge.

3 “eyes” were removed from the center of the hinge and the pin was split at that point. The pin was bent at 90 degrees and then again to match the angle of the flap brace to insert into the pieces of the cut hinge. The whole assembly secured to the flap brace with a #8 nut plate and screw. This worked out fantastically and am happy with the results, although the bends were a tiny bit tricky to get right. This should hold them secure and provide easy removal down the road.

I also had to countersink the flap brace to accent the dimples in the skin and keep the area flat for the hinge. No problem here, drill with hinge in place to keep the countersink bit from chattering.

  Apr 20, 2023     Ailerons and flaps attached - (15 hours)       Category: Wings

Ailerons have been attached and placed in trail using the jig vans provides and a laser/straight edge on the outboard rib. To that, the flaps were hung level and equal in trail to the ailerons. Once they were in trail, the flaps were clamped and the hinge was drilled to capture that position. A gap of approximately a 1/4” was achieved between the flap and aileron. For me, edge distance was no issue on the hinge, either side. This went smoothly using the “fat rivet” procedure. It's basically putting the bottom skin clecoed on and slightly squeezing a rivet in a couple holes where the skin and flap brace meet to hold everything together until you can drill the hinge. Worked nice and smoothly.

I also installed the pvc T for the wiring.

  Mar 21, 2023     Weld aileron rods - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

Decided to get my aileron push rods welded by a an aviation welded. This is an option given by vans in the plans. Also used rosette welds for added strength per ac43. Turned out really well.

  Mar 03, 2023     Flaps started - (24 hours)       Category: Wings

Flaps have been started, began fabricating the doubler on the inboard of the flap. Vans says this is the simplest, not necessarily the easiest control surface of the project. It was pretty straightforward but definitely involved a fair amount of head scratching to get things lined up and even trickier to figure out how to rivet them together.
I used a small 2x4 to provide some space so that I could get my hand and bucking bar into the trailing edge to rivet. Once I got the hang of it, it went pretty quickly.
When I match drilled the doubler the holes were sort of close if not in the radius which concerned me. I called vans and spoke with them and they said it won't be an issue since there is a lot holding the flap together in this spot, so no structural issue would be a problem.
I used my favorite ooops rivet for one of the plate nut holes which worked great.
The hinge was pretty simple to drill the flap side, I just lined up the center of the hinge and drilled a little further out so I could a little more “play” when it was time to drill it to the wing since I've heard some people have issues with it lining up with the aileron. This worked out great when I go to that step next.

  Mar 01, 2023     Ailerons complete - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Both ailerons are now complete. Second one went together just as the other did.

  Feb 22, 2023     Drilled/dimpled counterweight and leading edge skins - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Galvanized pipe was put in place in the leading edge skin. All the holes were drilled to #30. In order to dimple these holes you have to get creative since the normal female die will not fit in the curve. So to solve this the pipe was countersunk as per plans, placed back into the skin and clecoed. Using the “bumper” I made previously for the close quarters dimpling and the pipe as the female die. This worked extremely well and I was very happy with the results.
The pipe was removed, scuffed inside and out. The inside was scuffed with a rifle cleaning rod that had both sand paper and scotch bright installed in it then chucked in a drill. This worked great. The pipe was then cleaned and primed with rustoleum bright yellow. Color was just for the fun of it.

  Feb 16, 2023     Riveting the ailerons - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Riveted the stiffeners to the skins. Simple and lovely back rivet process. The brackets were drilled for the an3-4 bolts that will attach them to the spar. The skins were also bent in the break I made for the elevators way back during the emmpenage. Used the same I think it was an 1/8” dowel to get the correct bend radius. This worked out great and had it without pillowing.

  Feb 08, 2023     Begin ailerons - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Began assembling the ailerons after finishing cutting out allllllllllll of the stiffeners. Not really much to add here. They are pretty straight forward and it was just a matter of final hole drill, take apart, deburr, dimple, etc.

  Feb 01, 2023     Roll Servo mount - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

Roll Servo mount installed and torqued in right wing.

  Jan 17, 2023     Aileron brackets & flap/aileron braces - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

Completed the aileron brackets, riveted them to the wing. I also completed the braces and riveted them to the rear spar. I did follow advice given by others to flip the flush head rivets so the are on the outboard side. I also used flush rivets in the bottom two holes instead of just one.

  Jan 13, 2023     Pitot mast&tube install - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

I decided to mount the pitot just outboard of the bell crank as several others have done. With the instructions and other build logs, this was pretty easy. I did install a small piece of angle riveted to the adjacent rib for robustness. The hole in the bottom wing was mildly terrifying at first but somehow I got it cut and fits almost perfectly around the pitot mast. I will need to order and run the wires for the heat. It will be a simple black and red twisted pair. The pitot and AOA lines were ran as well.

  Dec 15, 2022     Placed right wing in stand and started assembly - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Right wing placed in the “jig.” All skins, leading edge and fuel tank placed in place in order to final drill all of the holes. Also began deburring the leading edge.

  Dec 14, 2022     Left wing complete(ish) - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings

My buddy Nick came over and helped me rivet the remaining rivets on the top wing skin. He did great for his first time holding the bar. Once the left wing was finished, we heaved it off of the stand and placed it in the newly built cradle in order to complete attaching the aileron, flap and etc. I also need to run wires and attach the wing tip at some point, as well as close out the bottom skins, obviously. When we flipped it over, I was actually surprised at how wide this wing actually is! Very, very cool to see.

  Dec 03, 2022     Right wing begins - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

While I am still waiting to finish up the left wing skins, I began riveting the main ribs to the right wing front and rear spar. This went smoothly and quicker than the left.

  Nov 28, 2022     Left aileron& flap brackets - (4 hours)       Category: Wings

While I am waiting on my friend to come over and help me finish riveting the left top wing skins, I started working on the aileron and flap brackets, including the service bulletin for the extra doublers, this went together pretty quickly. The mating surfaces were primed per the plans.

  Nov 20, 2022     Right tank finished and tested - (12 hours)       Category: Wings

Right tank constructed and sealed. Leak test performed on this tank and….. wahoo, this one passed the leak test as well. Both were pressurized and sprayed with soapy water and then allowed to set for 3 days without loss of pressure. I am beyond happy and pleased that this went the way it did. On to finishing up the left wing.

  Oct 26, 2022     Left tank leak test…. - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

Passed!!!! The leak test for the left tank passed without issue. Wahoo! Gave it a wash down and rinse. On to the right tank construction and test.

  Oct 21, 2022     Left tank complete - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

Whew, left tank done and drying or curing you may say. What a sticky couple of weeks. Unfortunately it took a little longer than I would have liked to do one tank due to work schedule and such. The right tank should go much quicker especially since I learned a few tricks and will be more comfortable with the process.

The sealant was very very smelly and extremely sticky but with proper care, most ridiculous mess can be avoided. Make sure you wipe the tails of the rivets of sealant before you buck them(this will make a nice shop head and keep the bucking bar from sliding) and put some tape over the manufacture head before bucking. The fuel flange was a total pain to buck since I couldn't reach with the squeezer yoke I have.

Once the tape was removed after about 4-5 hours I gave a very gentle wipe down with acetone to remove extra sealant from the skins surface. This worked well. The vent line went in and was pretty straight forward and was bent to the high point easily just bending around a finger since it's quite soft aluminum, you won't crease it with care. The fuel pick up anti-rotation bracket was a total asshole to rivet because it was almost impossible to get either a bucking bar or squeezer yoke in there because of the AN nut, I'll have to figure out something else for the right tank, ugh.

Pretty much anywhere I didn't want sealant or required a fine line, I taped the area with electrical tape and this worked marvelously.
As you can see I decided to run a dedicated ground wire from the float fuel sender to the main aircraft ground bar to avoid and loops or issues, it was easy enough to do with an internal tooth washer and a ring terminal, I recommend doing it as it was almost zero extra work or time. The beads of sealant for the rear baffle went down very easily and from what I could tell very smoothly. This was accomplished by putting the mixed sealant in a pastry icing bag purchased from Amazon for very cheap( I got like 50 of them for $8 or something).
Baffle went on smoothly and I believe squeezed the sealant down like it was suppose to, Atleast it looked like others I've seen and vans video so we shall see. The next session was putting the inspection access cover on with a bead of sealant that acts as the “gasket” I again used an icing bag filled with sealant which worked great. The baffle by the way was a high speed work session that was tricky to complete before the sealant started to go off, trying to put in all the rivets and rivet them with sticky everything is quite the task. The attach brackets went on without issue using a regular pop rivet puller and the little piece of angle wedge trick(see section 5).
The access cover screws were sequentially tightened until a small bead of sealant squished out from underneath and boom I was done. Oh and the basement smells like death , Que unhappy wife face :/
I'm going to owe her an all expenses trip to the Bahamas in this thing when it's done, that's for sure. Well, now onto the right tank while the left cures for about a week or so, at that point it will be time to see if all that work created a tight leak free tank… fingers crossed, we shall see…….

  Oct 04, 2022     Fuel tanks start of the sticky - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

The start of the fuel tank sealing process. Everything has been scuffed (heavily) and washed with dawn detergent and followed up with naphtha before dimpling. Immediately before the parts are slathered with the black goop, it receives another wipe down with naphtha. Oh and I used a small piece of scotch bright jammed in a hex extension chucked in a drill to scuff each rivet hole on the top of the tank just for extra adherence. This was quick and easy.

The stiffeners went it with ease and rivetted without an issue. I used a small piece of aluminum tubing to twirl around the rivet heads to incase them (per the mothership video). It worked really well. I also used my pinky to create a nice fillet around the stiffener instead of a popsicle stick or other. My finger worked really well because it kind of contours to the shape and I can apply enough pressure to push the sealant deep into any crevice as I'm going. Stiffeners in, I'm done for the day.

  Sep 14, 2022     Countersink spar& begin preparing skins - (12 hours)       Category: Wings

In order for the leading edge and the dimpled skins to fit nice and flat to the spar, the spar had to be countersunk for the dimple. I also deburred, both inboard and outboard top wing skins. I also lightly countersunk the end rib of the fuel tank for NAS1097 rivets to secure the reinforcement ring/nut plates. Both end ribs for the fuel tanks had to have a hole drilled for the vent as well, opened the holes up with a unibit, this location is approximate and was drilled looking at the plans. I also installed the nut plates for the fuel sender in the cover.

The wing walk doubler received the same treatment. The wing skins had to be scarfed at the joint so they could lay fairly flat with the leading edge skins. All edges were also given a slight break to make them lay flat after riveting.

As you can see, the fuel sender will have a dedicated ground with a wire ran to the main aircraft ground bar instead of grounding to the air frame. I also decided to replace the Phillips head screws with Allen cap screws for ease in the future. A ring terminal and a lock washer with inward teeth will bite in for the ground.

  Sep 12, 2022     Left leading edge rivet - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Left leading edge was deburred, dimpled and placed in the cradle to be riveted. This went smoothly. Also installed the inspection panel and the small rib for the stall warner, although I am not installing the system due to I will be installing AOA, but it's there if i ever want it. Joint strip was also riveted into place.

  Sep 08, 2022     Upgraded rudder pedals arrived       Category: Wings

Finally received the upgraded rudder pedals from Risser racing. They are fantastic looking and should provide excellent feel with differentiation of rudder/brakes. They also move the master cylinders to the rear.

  Sep 06, 2022     Repeat for the right tank… - (17 hours)       Category: Wings

Not going to post repetitive pictures, I repeated the tank prep for the right tank to get it to the same as the left tank.

  Aug 27, 2022     Fuel flange and drain - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Had a little time to devote today, so I fitted the fuel cap flange and countersunk it for the dimples. I also placed and match drilled the drain. All went smoothly. I also received a couple new tools… tubing flare and adel clamp pliers.

  Aug 26, 2022     Tank access panel - (3.5 hours)       Category: Wings

So to begin we have to do “the cut”. This has notoriously been an interesting process using a fly cutter in a drill press with everything clamped very tightly and hopefully you don't lose at fingers or mangle the rib. Well, I said screw that, there has to be a better way… researching hvac stuff I found a duct hole cutter (this one by Klein tools). Found the center of the hole I needed to cut by taking the radius of 5 1/4”, measuring in from the edge I wanted and drilled a hole from the x&y access. Chucked up the tool in my air drill, clamped the rib in the vise and began the cut. I made a small error by not fully tightening the center screw which caused a small notch at first. Fixed that issue and continued the cut. THIS THING IS MONEY!!! Worth every penny, cut smoothly and basically no burs. Make sure you rotate clockwise so the little feet guide the material. Fully recommend this tool and really made this cut a complete non event.
Next was to align T708 access plate to the rib, make sure the holes would have proper edge distance and match drill the screw holes. Remove the plate and cleco the stiffener ring in in order to match drill the platenut rivet holes. I forgot to add i notched the tank attach bracket ever so slightly to allow room for the rib to skin rivets shop heads. With that, I was done for the day. More tomorrow…

  Aug 26, 2022     Tank attach brackets - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Big day of work today. I cut the stock angle to the sizes given in the plans and used a compass to draw the 1 inch radius on them. This thick angle became very hot while cutting it and sanding. It turned out very nice I believe. I also had to form the 2” section of the angle to fit into the inboard rib. An easy way to do this is to use the doubler vans gives us for the interior of the rib. Mark the center of the attach bracket and also mark the center of the doubler. Lineup the center lines, put the top curve at the top of the bracket and trace. Walaa! Cut, sand and deburr.
The instructions have us drill holes in both the bracket and doubler through the inboard rib. A rough diagram for the holes are in the plans. Following that and keeping edge distances where the should be, the holes were marked and drilled. First drilled on the bracket, then with the bracket clamped to the rib, the holes were drilled into the rib. Remove the bracket, line up and clamp the doubler and back drill the holes into that. Everything clamped together to make sure it fit appropriately. It did, Atleast for now.
Now onto the access panel…..

  Aug 21, 2022     Tank/ baffle countersink - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Tank skin completely final drilled and spanwise holes for the baffle were countersunk as per plans. I really really wanted to dimple these but it would make it difficult to place the baffle during sealing.

  Aug 20, 2022     Stiffeners&Z brackets - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Finished up placing and final reaming the stiffeners to the tank skin. Also prepared and finished the Z brackets which was a breeze in comparison to the past brackets.

  Aug 18, 2022     Tank stiffeners… - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

I finished the evening today with cutting the tank stiffeners, marking the angles, sanding them to size and cleaning up, rounding all the corners/edges. This went much quicker than the stiffeners on the emmpenage. Must be improving my skills….

  Aug 18, 2022     Fuel tank mock up/fit - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Today was a good, long day of fitting the fuel tank and all its pieces to the spar to make sure it aligned. The Z brackets the bolt the tank to the spar just a short time ago in the past came completely un drilled. That meant the builder had to align everything and very carefully drill the holes for the ribs and bolts. Well folks, I'm here to tell you that Vans has stepped up yet again and have begun sending ALL of these Z brackets drilled for every hole needed and not just drilled, but FINAL SIZE hole drilled. This has taken a crap ton of time and head scratching out of this particular build phase. THANK YOU SO MUCH VANS!! Z brackets were cleaned up a bit and platenuts riveted to them.

  Aug 16, 2022     Leading edge cradle and leading edge - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

I built a leading edge cradle to hold both the leading edge and fuel tanks during the construction phase. Leading was clekoed together and placed on the spar. Oooooooo, really starting to become an airplane, and damn is this thing becoming SOLID.
The joint plate strip that goes between the leading edge and the tank came attached to the tank skin, PRE-PUNCHED…. Thank you Vans!!! Everything fit together perfectly and it was nice to see that I indeed straightened the ribs correctly. All holes final size reamed here as well.

  Aug 12, 2022     Wing jig built / skeleton hung - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

Over the last few days of time available I built the wing jig, leveled it and attached the left wing skeleton. Unfortunately due to space I will only be able to work on one wing at a time. The center “sag Jack” I built from left over pieces and a 1/2” threaded rod based off of a design from another build log.
The skins were put on the Skeleton and finals drilled. Both top and bottom.

  Aug 08, 2022     Conduit supports riveted - (4 hours)       Category: Wings

Conduit adel clamp supports have been primed and riveted to the main ribs.

  Aug 05, 2022     Main ribs riveted - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Pretty fun day of riveting. Main ribs final riveted to the left wing spar, front and rear. This was a little tricky due to the tight spaces but, if you use some basic blue paint on the manufactured head, tungsten bucking bar and remove the retaining spring on the gun, it comes out very nicely (set at 70psi with normal straight cup set). The last few ribs towards the tip were easily reached with the squeezer. BE EXTREMELY VIGILANT ON THE REAR SPAR WHERE THE RIBS ARE RIVETED!!! Look at the plans, some holes to the ribs will remain open to accept the aileron cap (note the small pieces of blue tape over holes on rear spar). Pretty awesome to see the skeleton complete and happy, minus nose parts. Next up I have to rivet the conduit angle to the ribs and move the assembly to the wing stand I have built( pics elsewhere).

  Jul 28, 2022     Wing wire conduit fab - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings

I have decided to use PVC conduit in each wing to run the wiring for the wing tips, pitot heat, etc. So I have to find a way to run and secure the conduit. What better way to do this than what's in AC 43 for certified aircraft? Is it the lightest and quickest way? No, but it's a proven way. Anyway, I am am riveting a small lightweight 1/8” thick piece of angle to the main wing rib and securing an adel clamp to that with proper AN3 hardware. It is insanely strong and secure. Two 470 rivets to secure the angle will suffice.

  Jul 24, 2022     Ribs complete - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Well I have finally reached the end of the line for preparing the ribs. Now to attach them to the front and rear spars, final drill and deburr them. I also attach the nose ribs to do the same. Whoooaaaa looking like a wing!

  Jul 15, 2022     Uggghhhhhhhh - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

Update to the ribs ……. Finally completed deburring them. Horrendous process of repetition. I will admit that the laser cut parts probably shaved a considerable amount of time from the process. Now onto flange straightening and fluting every rib. With work and such, I'm guessing another week from beginning wing skeleton construction.

  Jul 06, 2022     THE RIBS - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

Time to start the ribs…. Noooo, not the tasty ones that smoke for a few hours , but the ones that give the wing it's shape and form/strength. I now have to deburr, flute, straighten and get into all the nooks and crannies of these ribs to make sure they are nice and smooth. An easy but tedious task. Hopefully, it won't take much more than a week, haha.

  Jul 06, 2022     Aileron spars complete - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

With everything dimpled that needed to be dimpled it was time to study the plans in detail to make sure I tape off the correct holes that were not going to receive rivets right now and would be riveted later on and to put the correct rivet sizes in the correct locations. As done before, everything clecoed up and the enjoyment of watching the -4 rivets squeeze with the squeezer. This went smoothly and all of the rivets were able to be reached with the squeezer. As you can see, I dimpled the tip doubler at the outermost holes. The instructions say to countersink here, but after seeing a few others confirm there is no issue with dimpling instead of countersinking, that is the path I chose since the sandwiched material is much stronger than a countersink, especially in the .040 aluminum.Next up is a part I'm not completely looking forward to……

  Jul 02, 2022     Spar doublers F&E/Final drill fork - (4 hours)       Category: Wings

Spent the first part of this beautiful Americas birthday weekend clamping, match drilling the center and tip spar doublers, as well as deburring the holes. I also traced the the aileron push rod hole that had to be cut out. Not sure why this part isn't match holed and precut, but I assume it's part of what goes into the 51%. Either way, it was pretty simple and fun to really fabricate a piece. Between a step drill and the little sanding wheels chucked up in the dremel, it was a fairly quick job.

Due to the scuffing that happened when cutting out that hole, I decided to just scuff up the whole doubler and the corresponding section on the spar for priming. Pretty much at the same time I clecoed the fork and doubler to final reem them to #30. I also final reemed the skin attach holes to #40 since you won't be able to get to them once the fork is installed. They will get dimpled as well, next….

  Jun 30, 2022     Aileron spar construction start - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

On to the aileron spars. First was to deburr these long sombitches and check the plans to mark the correct orientation. Then onto the doublers. The 707 G&D have to be trimmed for the RV 7. The amount to trim is very little, we are talking 30 seconds and sixteenths here. The dimensions are actually located on plans page 38, which you have to access online via your vans profile. I tried to leave just a tiny pinch extra material here because I wanted to make sure (hopefully) not to have a edge distance problem later on.

Everything in this section deburred, orientation marked and trim made. The 707 F&E doublers are un-drilled and have to be placed appropriately on the rear spar before they can be match drilled. The smaller one aligns with the outboard edge of the spar and the bigger center doubler is per the plans 50 3/4 inches from the outboard edge of the spar.

  Jun 27, 2022     Finish tie down and bell crank brackets - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Now that the brackets are primed, I drilled and installed the nut plates. This was easy and straightforward with the squeezer. Now I mounted them to the spar with the associated hardware, installed the aileron bell crank brackets. The bolts were torqued to 25 inlb. After everything was torqued, I put some identification paint goop to keep track of if anything moves or becomes un-torqued. With that, the tie down is complete. Next…..

  Jun 23, 2022     Tie down bracket cont'd - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

Now I mount the tie down bracket and the spacers to the wing spar, check several times to make sure that the orientation is correct and back drill the bracket using the holes in the spar with a #12 bit. Nothing too tricky here, just make sure you drill straight .

Disassemble all the parts, mark them and the orientation, deburr everything, countersink the spacers on the side that will face the spar, clean and prepare for priming. I also used the tape trick to hold the spacers in place for drilling.

  Jun 21, 2022     Tie down fabrication - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

First step was to cut out the AEX to the require dimensions in the plans and cut the 1 inch hole. I tried a 1 inch hole saw here and I did not have good luck, i don't know how I screwed it up, but I almost trashed one of the pieces. So I decided to run to harbor freight and buy a 1 inch step drill. This worked perfectly and quickly, I actually decided to cut the hole to 7/8 because I wanted a little more material and it's only lightening holes.

Next I tapped the hole and trimmed the AEX. Drilled the reference hole to align the AEX.

  Jun 13, 2022     K1000-4 platenuts (f-704g) - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

Checked several times to see the proper orientation of the K1000-4 platenuts for the 704-G bar on the spar. Squeezer worked great here. Easy peezy. Just had to countersink for the flush rivets.

  Jun 10, 2022     Countersink/prime/access panels - (11 hours)       Category: Wings

Now that all the nut plates are installed, it is time to countersink for the big ol #8 screw/dimple from the tank skin. This was pretty straightforward as the #30 cutter fit well In the nut plate and kept nice concentric holes, just like vans said. It's almost like they have done this before ;). The wing access panel nutplates also got countersunk after all the #8's were done. Gosh I think that was like 400 freaking holes to countersink, sheesh. Once that was complete, time to spot prime all the open metal countersunk holes. I made a little “jig” to spray primer into the holes ( just a slightly bigger hole cut in a piece of small cardboard with tape on it so the cardboard didn't get soggy from the primer). Worked well and made the job speedy. Ohhh, and to clean/roughen the holes I came up with a little tool to make it speedy as well. I have a video, but it won't load on this site sadly, but I took a screen shot of the video. It's a hex drill extension bit with some maroon scotch bright jammed into the end. Worked grrrrreat! I also deburred, upsized and dimpled the wing access panels.

  Jun 01, 2022     Tank attach nut plates - (4 hours)       Category: Wings

Began the actual “wing build process” which came with a touch of trepidation, I mean each spar is like 3 grand. Yes, the directions are pretty straight forward as compared to the empennage directions, they basically just say attach tank attach nut plates. So you have to ream the holes, deburr them and countersink for the #40 nut plate rivets.

Now we must squeeze them….. but wait, the first few nutplates are angled(cattywompass) so I could not get a squeezer in there well enough so that I didn't half squeeze the shop head. So I had to buck them, which is ok because I like bucking. It was a total pita. Thankfully there are only 5 or 6 and I only had to buck the ones closest to the spar web.

  May 20, 2022     Inventory…Inventory….Inventory - (15 hours)       Category: Wings

Boxes opened, unpacked and inventoried. Whew this has taken a long time over about 2 weeks. Vans packages this stuff so well, they even constructed little standoffs for bailing twine to tie to. I celebrated our anniversary for a few days as well. Finally everything put away on shelves and cleaned up after the unpack fest…. Time to build!!

  May 19, 2022     WINGS ARE HERE! - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

They have arrived!! Shipped via ABF and not a touch of damage during the complete across country shipping. Excellent experience. The wife and I had to carry these 200 pound boxes into the house. Not bad.

  May 11, 2022     Countersinking tips and finish       Category: Wings

I had to countersink the cover for the tinnerman washers and the lip for flush nutplate rivets. I didn't want to use a metal countersink because the fiberglass would pretty much ruin it and dull it almost instantly. I remembered reading about an abrasive 100 degree countersink cutter awhile ago, so I started searching. I found it! The permagrit 100 degree countersink. I searched high and low for a supplier in the US, but no joy. I ordered it from Perma Grit in the UK. Shipping wasn't bad and didn't take very long either, I think about 5-6 days. Wow is this thing worth every penny of the 25 bucks it cost. Beautiful countersinks over and over. I opted for the “no nipple” because I wanted the ability to countersink different diameter holes, which worked out well. If you are even thinking about countersinking fiberglass, just get it!! Anywho, I installed the washers, nut plates and screws. Closed everything up and boy does it look good. It's a lot of screws, but it definitely will not come off haha. Oh and what a surprise, Vans just emailed me and told me the wings will be here in a week!!!!! Way ahead of schedule.

  May 05, 2022     Wing tip continued work       Category: Wings

Next I marked the spot to drill each whole, spaced equally around the inspection panel. I ordered some platenuts, stainless screws, tinnerman washers and some platenut cherry rivets. Maintained edge distance and checked the inside lip for edge distance before I drilled with my caliper. Drilled through the access cover first, then placed it in place, secured it tightly with tape and match drilled into the lip of the wingtip. * the aluminum strips are not installed yet. Next I removed the cover plate and set the aluminum reinforcements in place, held securely with cleco clamps. Drilled into the strips, removed, deburred, scuffed and primed one side since I scratched the heck out of it while cutting them on the bandsaw. Ready to install everything now….

  Apr 11, 2022     Started making reinforcements       Category: Wings

After a long wait to do something that had to do with building this plane, it was great to get back to it. Began making reinforcements out of .o20 aluminum sheet for the #6 platenuts. I used blue painters tape and a sharp utility knife to capture and transfer the patterns to the aluminum sheet. This worked out really well. Cut the patterns out on the bandsaw, deburred and finished them.

  Apr 05, 2022     Zip Tips arrived!!       Category: Wings

The zip tips III arrived after much anticipation. They looked fantastic and were extremely bright. They also will save loads of time and headaches for exterior lighting as these cover everything I need.

  Jun 25, 2021     Email from Damien at Aveo Category: Wings

Damien from Aveo contacted me to let me know that there was going to be about a $300 increase to the zip tips on July 1st. He allowed me to put a 250 deposit on them to hold the old price, so thankful and very glad I'm going with him and that company. They rock.

  Jun 19, 2021     Wings ordered Category: Wings

Ordered my wing kit earlier than I had planned due to the 7 month lead time they are expecting. 25% deposit paid. Also I have chosen to delete the standard wingtips as I will be installing the Aveo Zip Tips Winglet.