Mar 11, 2023     24-6: Tips done - (1.5 hours)       Category: 24: Wing Tip

Finally had good weather today and had a chance to prime the tips. Made a final pass with 400 grit and filled a couple pin holes.

Then mixed a total of about 300g of EcoPoxy. Thinned with 20% water and shot through a 1.3mm tip with about 12 psi at the gun. Came out great. Smooth satin finish. A little dust in the finish so not perfectly smooth but that what I get with no paint booth. Acceptable for primer.

So glad to have it done as I can clear out all of the epoxy, filler and sanding devices from the garage and have more room for the growing fuselage.

  Feb 26, 2023     A little more tip work - (2.5 hours)       Category: 24: Wing Tip

Was just about to spray the tips when I looked closely at the trailing edges. The left tip maintains a nice even thickness all the way to the end and then rounds off. The right tip tapers a bit over the last few inches. Decided to hold off on priming and to try to fix it. Mixed up some flox and applied.

2/27: sanded down the flox and applied micro to fair it out. I think it is going to look better.

2/28: sanded out the micro. Still a bit wavy but I think it will do fine until the painter gets it. Applied epoxy skim coat to the area sanded.

  Feb 04, 2023     24-3: Finishing up left tip - (7.0 hours)       Category: 24: Wing Tip

Remounted the left tip on the wing and final drilled the #6 holes.. Removed and installed all the nut plates in the top, still need to countersink the #6's. Started working on the bottom nutplates but remembered that I need to install the Bob Archer nav antenna. It will get sandwiched between the reinforcement strips and the nut plates - the rivets through the nut plates will provide the ground. Doesn't seem like enough, but I guess people say it is. To keep it from flopping around in the wingtip, I opted to lay my last short strip of BID cloth across the outstanding long leg. I wrapped the antenna with tape and coated it with mold release wax. I don't know if I'll ever really be able to easily remove it, but that was the intent. We'll see when it cures.

2/5: yah, that antenna is not coming out of there very easily. Oh well, I'll cut it out if I ever need to. Proceeded with installing the remaining nut plates and countersunk for all the #6 screws. Did some final sanding on the right tip, need to get a DA sander - Amazon next day! Knocked off and went flying.

2/6: keep pushing today to finish at least to the point I don't need the wings anymore. Got the tip mounted and taped off and applied a layer of micro. While that cured I cleaned up the shop in preparation for fuse delivery this week.
Then I busted out my new DA sander and sanded down the high build primer on the right tip. Just a couple of very small pin holes. It will be ready for epoxy primer.

Micro on the left tip finally cured enough to sand. Got it all knocked down and then cut the paint gap. That's it. That was the last thing that had to be done while the wings were still in my possession. Got the right wing back in the cradle and tucked in to the garage. Ready to be shipped out.

2/12: thought I would shoot the final epoxy primer today but my cheap HF gun is shot. I get a lot of rust on the needle, I have since learned this very common on waterborn paints and I should shoot some laquer thinner through it when all cleaned up.

Decided it was time try a nicer gun. Ordered one from Eastwood.

  Feb 02, 2023     Finish up tip lenses - (4.5 hours)       Category: 24: Wing Tip

1/30: Ice day in Dallas today but getting a little a little work done in the very cold garage. Final fit the right tip lens and drilled and installed the nut plates. Then taped off the lens and applied a first coat of micro to the edge.

1/31: Sanded out the micro. Will need a second coat.

2/1: Re-masked the lens and applied second coat of micro. Sanded out. Removed masking from lens and check fit - looks pretty good, but as expected the fiberglass is a little high due to the thickness of the tape. Trial fit and sanded a little more to get it smooth.

2/2: still ice days so getting a little done while working from home. Happy with the fit of the right lens, cut the paint gap using the pull saw. Had just a couple spots that were not even so touched up with a little glazing putty. Looking at the unmasked lens, I had a few scratches from saw and from sanding operations. I had previously ordered a micromesh polish kit and went to work on the scratches. Started by sanding them out with 600 grit normal paper and then worked through the micromesh pads and eventually to the polishing compound. Came out pretty good. The big scratches are out at least; I'll probably touch it all up later when final assembling. A long time between now and then to pick some additional small scratches in the lenses. Happy with the right lens, I took some micromesh to the left lens too and addressed the few scratches I picked up in that one too. I wrapped both lenses in protective blue tape and will set them aside.

  Jan 28, 2023     24-3: Back on the left tip - (4 hours)       Category: 24: Wing Tip

With the right tip pretty much to the prime and sand stage, switched attention back to the left tip today.

Sanded back the joggle on the tip and mounted the tip on the wing, confirmed alignment and then floxed the joint closed. Once cured, sanded flush to the tape, then removed and sanded the remainder down leaving just the slight edge filled. Reinstalled the tip and double checked the gap to the aileron. Shooting for 1/4” so that when I add the fiberglass close out, it should be about 3/16”. Also marked the trailing edge for trimming even with aileron. Cut the trailing edge with the pull saw.

Installed the trailing edge rib and then mixed up some more flox to fill the end rib and adhere the fiberglass piece I had previously made.

1/29: trailing edge close out is cured so sanded it all down then proceeded with the reinforcement strips. Mixed up the flox and glued and clamped in place. Drilled only a few holes for alignment this time to avoid the puckering between the holes that I had on the left tip. It's a bit colder today so this epoxy is going to take forever. Going to clean the shop.

  Jan 15, 2023     24-2 & 3: Right tip mostly done - (12.0 hours)       Category: 24: Wing Tip

Stalling on wing tip work. Not a lot done during the week but finally made myself a punch list to get organized. Step one was to move the left wing out of the cradle to give me some room to work on the right tip. Final drillled the right tip to #28s, Deburred and dimpled the skins for #6 screws.

I was very apprehensive about installing the nut plates but jumped in and went for it. Had nothing to worry about, everything was fine. Installed a #6 screw backwards in the nut plate and used that as a jig. Held in place and drilled the first hole, then cleco'd in place and drilled the second. Countersunk the #40s by hand with the deburr tool with 4-6 turns. Riveted with 3-4's except a few at the front that needed a little longer. Once all the nut plates were in place, I countersunk the #6 holes testing with a coupon as I went. About 40 turns with the deburr tool was good.

Also mixed up some micro and smoothed out the trailing edge closure piece. Also applied micro to the tip lense interiors to smooth them out.

1/16: checked the fit of the right tip with the screws. Fits pretty good. The. Took it off to clean up a couple of countersinks and then wrap the end of the skins with electrical tape. Reinstalled with the electrical tape and applied a layer of micro to the joint.

Then redrilled the holes for the left tip for hopefully the last time. Looks good this time.

1/22: lots going on this week but slowly progressed the right tips. Applied second round of micro and sanded the interface with the skin. Trimmed the right lens and then drilled the attachment holes and installed nut plates. First round didn't go well, but plate seemed out of alignment. Floxed over the holes and try again. Better results second time. Once lens was fit well, I applied micro and sanded. All looked good but had many more scratches in the lens, will need to get some micro mesh and polish.

Final step was cutting a paint gap between the lens and the tip, and between the tip and the skin. Just carefully cut it with the pull saw leaving a fairly uniform 1/32" gap.

Applied a skim coat of epoxy to seal up any pinholes. Still need to sand out next week. Everything sounds quick but each step involves multiple applications of micro and several sanding sessions over multiple days. Right tip is mostly done short of final sand and priming.

Other nephew stopped by the house today and helped move the right wing out and left wing into the cradles to start work on that tip.

  Jan 08, 2023     24-3: More right tip progress - (5.0 hours)       Category: 24: Wing Tip

Still unseasonably warm January which is working out great for my fiberglass work.

There were a few holes in the floxed interface between the left tip and the skin so I re-taped it and applied some more flox to fill those spots. Also, filled the previously drilled holes on the right tip because I still wasn't happy with the alignment. Will redrill once cured.

Then laid up some flat pieces of glass to close out the trailing edge of the tips. Just two ply of BID fabric between plastic sheets. Let them cure overnight then cut to shape.

Inserted the trailing edge rib in the left tip and marked the end rivet holes. Used my new rivet fan to lay out the remaining holes. Riveted with solid -3s except the last two, used pull rivets for those. Then applied a layer of epoxy and flox to the rib and edge of the tip and installed the close out piece I made the day before. When it was all cured, I trimmed to fit and sanded smooth. Looks good.

Meanwhile, match drilled holes for the reinforcement strips using the wing skin as a guide. Pressed the strips right to the end rib expecting that it will extend beyond the tip fiberglass in many places. Intent is to use the reinforcement strip as a guide to add additional flox to to the tip flange to extend the edge distance in a few places where it is a little light. Once holes were drilled, I applied a flox mix to the inside of the tips and installed the strips on the left tip, holding in place with clecos as I went. There were a few places where the holes didn't quite align because the match drilling didn't account for the thickness of the fiberglass tip around the curves. I snipped the reinforcement strips in a couple places to relieve their tendency to buckle between clecos. Wiped Vaseline on the clecos to prevent them from getting stuck, worked well. Applied additional flox along the edge of the tip flange where reinforcement strip extended. Once cured, cleaned up all the extra flox and finished the edge of the flange. A little touch up to do, but seems to have all worked according to plan.

  Dec 31, 2022     24-2: Tips progress - (7 hours)       Category: 24: Wing Tip

Beautiful day outside and wanted to get some epoxy work done. Holding off on the left tip, I went ahead and started on the right tip. Low and behold the right tip had a nice scribe line of where to cut. After measuring it comfirmed that it would leave the 1/16” to 1/8” gap in the joggle. Cut again with a pull saw and sanded with the permagrit bar, checking the fit as I went.

Finally got the right tip where I was happy and clamped and taped it in place. Double checked the alignment and drilled the holes. Much better alignment all around. They're a couple holes with minimal edge distance but I plan to install an aluminum backer plate and will add some flox to the edges.

Did an initial sanding of the tip seams and the joggle then proceeded to fill the joggle gap with flox per chapter 5. I wrapped the skins in electrical tap and clecos the tip in place. Then mixed up some flox and used a ziplock bag to dispense directly in the gap. Smoothed it out with a hotel key card and will let it cure.

1/1: Happy new year! The great weather continues and this morning I sanded down the flox from yesterday. Transition looks good; will look better after micro. I'm out of epoxy though so looking for something else to work on.

Went ahead and cut the lense for the tip light on the left side. Separated the big single lense into left and right and then roughly marked the outline of the lense within about 1/2” of final. Cut that with snips. Fit it a little better now and marked with about 1/8” of final and cut with some nice curved lexan scissors I had from my RC car days. Continued cutting it closer to the line and remarking with masking tape. Got it close enough and then sanded the edge smooth 80-100-160-220-400 wet. I intentionally left a small gap that I will micro similar to the tip onto the end.

Still looking for things to do, I marked the line to trim the trailing edge of the right tip. Just marked it with a straight edge clamped to the aileron and then cut it with the pull saw. Finished it with permagrit bar. Came out good.

1/2: Out of epoxy so worked on the reinforcement strips for the nut plates. I had a trashed aileron skin that I held on to and it is just the right length to cut strips from. So marked off four 5/8" wide strips and cut them on the band saw. Sanded and deburred the edges and primed one side. Meant to do the other tip lense today but ran out of time.

  Dec 10, 2022     24-2: Starting on left tip - (5.5 hours)       Category: 24: Wing Tip

The tip flanges were quite a bit longer than needed and there was no scribe line in the parts. So I measured and marked the rough cut of the left wing tip. Used a Japanese pull saw to make the cuts. Went pretty easy. Then used the permagrit bar to clean up the edges and get to the line I marked.

It actually fits up pretty well on the first try. I'd seen where people have to used ratchet straps and carefully drill and ratchet to pull the tip into place. Mine lines up with no issues. Maybe that is just the ziptips that don't align well but it thought I had seen it in -7s and -14s too with the stock tips.

Still needs a little shaving for perfect fit but happy so far.

12/24: Hours are a guess; I've been working here and there over the last month on the left tip but not making a lot of progress.

I got everything lined up on the left tip and drilled it. Thought it was good until I sighted down the tip and saw that it wasn't in the same plane as the aileron. It was not square to the end rib. Very disappointed. Also realized that I didn't leave a very good gap between the skin and the joggle in the tip. Chapter 5 would say to leave a 1/16” to 1/8” gap to be filled in with flox.

So, I filled in all of the holes I had drilled in the tip and filled them with flox. Then sanded along the bottom of the tip and tried to sand the joggle out of the tip so that if would sit better. Thought I had it all squared up pretty good and re-drilled it. It's much better, but not sure if it's as good as it could be. I feel like the tip itself is a bit curved. Maybe I can just sand that out.