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.