Apr 30, 2022     Day 32 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

Today began with running tubing through the inside of the wing to the location of the pitot tube. Once that was installed and secured, attention was temporarily turned to the fuselage. Since the wing was ready to close up with final riveting, we wanted to identify and prep some of the fuselage parts so work could begin on that next time. Parts that will be used early in fuselage assembly were identified, cleaned, interiors scuffed with scotchbrite, and primed with Cortec primer. Near lunch time, work was interrupted by a visit from EAA Chapter 240. They flew in with half a dozen aircraft, toured our facility, and discussed our Veteran's Build project. We all then went to lunch. After lunch attention returned to the wing. In short order, the top and nose skins were riveted and the wing set aside in the wing cradle. There are still some things to do on the wings such as finishing the wingtips, but the main focus starting next session will be the fuselage. There will be no session next week due to Mother's Day weekend. The next session will be Saturday, May 14th.

  Apr 23, 2022     Day 31 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

Work resumed today on the left wing. Straps were used to line up the the top and leading edge skins along the main spar and clecoed in place. Holes were then match drilled through the skins and spar. The holes were then further drilled to the correct size for A5 rivets. Meanwhile, work was begun on the plastic wingtips. They were further trimmed and metal reinforcements were fabricated. As with the right wingtip, the forward portion will be attached with nut plates and screws while the rear portion will be riveted. The curved inboard skins were fitted along with the separate flange to which they are attached. Holes were then match drilled through the skins and flange. Once all the holes were drilled to size through the spar the skins were removed and everything de-burred. With the wing open once more, wiring conduits were installed for the wingtip lights and the pitot tube. Work will continue next session which will be Saturday, April 30th.

  Apr 09, 2022     Day 29 & 30 - (40 hours)       Category: Wings

The last two sessions saw good progress on the left wing. On April 2nd some match drilling was completed and then the skins were removed and everything de-burred. The Chapter picnic was held that afternoon. On the 9th the bottom skins were clecoed in place once again, everything leveled and inspected, and final riveting begun. The strut fitting was bolted in place and the tie-down ring riveted. The strut fitting reinforcement plates were match drilled, shaped, riveted together, then riveted to the wing. The wing was then turned over and the flaperon brackets and reinforcements installed. The top skins were then clecoed in place. Riveting of the top skins is waiting on the pitot tube bracket installation which may take place next time. There will be no session on the 16th due to the Easter holiday. The next session will be Saturday April 23rd.

  Mar 26, 2022     Day 28 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

Good progress was made on the left wing today. The framework was assembled but not riveted last time. Today the framework was first inspected then leveled and straightened to avoid any twist, and riveted together. All of the bolts were then torqued. The frame was then turned over, leveled and straightened again, and the bottom skins mated to the frame. It was during this process that it was discovered that we made the same error we made on the right wing. One of the ribs has a rear tab that goes behind a reinforcing plate on the rear spar. The tab had been put on top of the plate which kept the holes in the skin from lining up. Rivets were drilled out and the error corrected. The trailing edge and nose skins were then added and holes were drilled to the correct sizes. Everything was left clecoed together and ready for riveting next time. The next session will be Saturday, April 2nd, which is the same day as the picnic which takes place at 2:00 following the build session. An extra note: Following today's session we went to a home in Frederick to pick up an unfinished Varieze project that has been donated. Its fate is yet to be determined.

  Mar 12, 2022     Day 27 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

Today early work continued on the left wing. All of the parts for the wing's skeleton framework were de-burred, scuffed, cleaned, and primed. The framework was then reassembled (it's still a puzzle, even the second time) and clecoed together. Holes were enlarged for A6 rivets on the wingtip extension and the AN3 bolt on the inboard end was installed and torqued. We stopped there for this session so that next time we could check everything carefully before actually riveting the frame together. There will be no session on the 19th. The next session will be March 26th.

  Mar 05, 2022     Day 26 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

On Friday, Mark and Ernie came in to begin dealing with installing the plastic wingtips. The plastic has to be painstakingly trimmed and fitted to conform to the wing and fit with each other. It was decided last time that the rear half of the tip will be riveted in place as shown in the plans, but the forward half will get nut plates and screws to allow access later. The plastic is thin, so aluminum backing is being added where rivets and screws will secure the wingtip to the wing. Work continued on the wingtip Saturday. Meanwhile, parts for the left wing were located and test assembled. De-burring and priming will continue next session which will be Saturday March 12th.

  Feb 26, 2022     Day 25 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

Riveting on the wing began today with the row of A6 rivets across the spar extension at the wingtip. From there, the final riveting of the rest of the wing was quickly completed. Attention then turned to the complex inboard skins and wingtip. Aluminum plates were fabricated to reinforce the plastic wingtip where the lights will be installed. A lot of time was then devoted to cutting and fitting the wingtip. The forward portion of the tip will ultimately be attached using plate nuts and screws to allow access to wiring. Wingtip fitting will continue next time. Meanwhile, the inboard skins required a lot of attention. The Zenith wing design includes a clever feature at the inboard leading edge where it meets the fuselage that allows for good visibility in turns. Unfortunately, it appears that bending the skins at this point to create this feature is nearly impossible without ending up with wrinkles and gaps. We've seen a number of attempted solutions to this problem. The one that looks the best to us right now is to create a thin fiberglass fairing over the leading edge to fill in and cover the gaps. More discussion and work on this next time. We spent the last part of the session cleaning up and moving the project out of the way for our Chapter meeting which will be this coming Thursday evening at 7:00. The next build session will be Saturday, March 5th.

  Feb 19, 2022     Day 24 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

As planned, today began with match drilling the top and nose skins through the spar for A5 rivets. The skin and spar extension at the wingtip were drilled for A6 rivets to account for the holes not quite lining up on that part. After inspecting to make sure everything else was drilled to the correct size, the top skin was removed and the wing opened up for de-burring and cleaning. At this point the electrical conduit was reinstalled. It had been temporarily removed to avoid any chance of drilling into it when drilling through the spar. Once everything was de-burred and the inside of the wing cleaned out, the skins were reinstalled and clecoed in place. Everything matched up and fit perfectly. Meanwhile, stiffeners were riveted to the top skin for the left wing which was primed last time. Next time final riveting will probably being on the wing. That session will be Saturday, February 26th.

  Feb 12, 2022     Day 23 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

Another good turnout produced some good progress on the wing today. The stiffeners were installed on the top skin that was prepped and primed last time. While we were at it, we went ahead and primed the skin for the left wing. It was then time to install the skin on the wing and wrap the leading edge skin over it in order to match drill everything, especially for the holes that go through both skins and the spar. This proved to be something of a challenge requiring some patience. On our first attempt everything went very well with the exception of the line of rivet holes where the two leading edge skins meet. They just wouldn't quite line up with the nose rib. So it was decided to undo everything and try again with just the nose skins starting from where they meet, then adding everything else from the center outward. This worked much better. We were able to cleco everything in place and then drill most of the holes to the proper rivet size. There are two exceptions. We haven't drilled the holes that go through the spar yet. Also, the spar extension at the wingtip has a row of holes that don't quite match up with the skin. The solution there may be to drill slightly larger holes and use A6 instead of A5 rivets. At the inboard end, a strip of aluminum was fluted and curved to match where the inboard skins slope down toward the fuselage. Once finished, it was match drilled and clecoed in place. In the next session we plan to finish the drilling, remove everything, de-burr, and then reassemble. That session will be Saturday, February 19th.

  Feb 05, 2022     Day 22 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

Today the main focus was on the brackets that attach the flaperons to the wing. This proved to be a somewhat challenging task. The brackets are secured to ribs inside the wing along with L shaped reinforcements. The bottom row of rivets that go through the reinforcements, brackets, and ribs are very close to the bottom skin which makes it difficult to get any sort of drill square with the parts for match drilling. Various tools and techniques were discussed and tried. In the end the L shaped reinforcements were clamped in place, marked, removed, and drilled separately. (Kevin provided a special tool for accurately marking the parts.) By the end of the session all of the flaperon brackets were riveted in place. Meanwhile, the plastic wingtips were painstakingly trimmed and sanded. Some time was also devoted to test fitting and discussing the installation of the fuel tank. Toward the end of the session, the top wing skins were de-burred and primed. The next session will be Saturday February 12th.

  Jan 29, 2022     Day 21 - (40 hours)       Category: Wings

A good turnout today yielded great progress on the right wing. The day started with more drilling to open holes to the proper size for the A4 and A5 rivets. The reinforcement for the strut attach bracket was also completed. Then the skins were removed and de-burred. The ribs and spar were de-burred as well. Meanwhile, the inspection plates were de-burred, primed, and plate nuts riveted in. The skins were then clecoed back in place and the entire bottom of the wing riveted together. The next session will be Saturday, February 5th.

  Jan 22, 2022     Day 20 - (25 hours)       Category: Wings

More good progress today. First, the strut attach bracket had to be reamed out to properly fit an AN-7 bolt. The bracket was then bolted in place and torqued. The wing was then carefully leveled and firmly secured to the table so that it would remain straight without any twist as the bottom skins were fitted. The next task was to begin clecoing the bottom skins in place. Early on we ran into a problem. The holes in the outboard skin near the wing root did not match up with the holes in the rib. Zenith says that if the holes don't match, you've done something wrong, which proved to be true in this case. We finally discovered that the tab at the back of the rib needed to fit behind a reinforcing plate rather than on top of it. We had to drill out and replace some rivets to fix it. Once that was taken care of, the bottom skins and trailing edges were clecoed in place without any further problem. The next step was to drill out the holes to matching sizes. Then the leading edge skins were added, and holes drilled through the skins and the main spar. Finally, the reinforcement parts for the strut attach bracket were clecoed and clamped in place. Once that assembly is completed, it will be time to remove all the skins, de-burr, and reassemble. That will hopefully take place during the next session on Saturday, January 29th.

  Jan 15, 2022     Day 19 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

Good progress was made on the right wing today. Conduit for the wingtip lights was installed. Small plastic cushions were first installed on the ribs to prevent chafing of the conduit. Once the conduit was in place the wiring was threaded through so it will already be in place once the wing is closed up. Meanwhile, a series of stiffeners was installed on the bottom skins for both wings. L shaped reinforcements for the flaperon brackets were also created. Near the end of the session the wing was turned over and prepared for the installation of the first bottom wing skin. Time was also spent reviewing plans and directions for future parts of the wing assembly to help ensure everything goes together in the right order. The next session will be Saturday, January 22nd.

  Jan 08, 2022     Day 18 - (25 hours)       Category: Wings

Work continued on the right wing today. The rear spar assembly was inspected and then riveted to the framework. Meanwhile, the last of the wing skins for both wings were de-burred, cleaned, and primed. Some time was also devoted to discussion of lights and wiring options. Mark presented two good lighting possibilities: wing tip lights that cover enough area to eliminate the need for a tail light, and landing/taxi lights that can be mounted on the bottom of the wing which would simplify installation. The next session will be Saturday, January 15th.

  Jan 01, 2022     Day 17 - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

A small group gathered this New Year's Day to do a little work on the project. We decided to focus our efforts mainly on preparing the right wing skins for assembly. We first located all the correct skins and then began de-burring, cleaning, and priming. We completed most of them, but there are still a few to do. Part of our time was also spent discussing wiring options that may need to go in before some of the skins go on. Mark G. is doing some research on that and will bring it up as a topic for discussion next session, which will be Saturday January 8th.

  Dec 18, 2021     Day 16 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

The main focus today was on riveting the wing ribs to the main spar. This process required a considerable amount of time and effort. Many rivets were larger A5 or A6 sizes that had to be installed in relatively tight positions. It required a lot of hands and sometimes the use of a hand riveter. The other time consuming task was figuring out where two unidentified stiffeners were supposed to go. (It's not good to have left over parts.) The mystery was finally solved by digging through the detailed blueprints, since the part was not shown on the overall plans or mentioned in the instruction manual. The next session will be January 1, 2022.

  Dec 11, 2021     Day 15 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

The morning began with finishing the cleaning, de-burring and priming of the right wing framework parts. By lunchtime everything was ready to begin reassembly. This time all the parts had to be carefully fitted to their final positions. This included making fine adjustments and drilling proper size holes in the rib flanges for A5 rivets. By the end of the session the wing skeleton was pretty much assembled and clecoed together in its final form. Next time riveting will begin. The next session will be Saturday, December 18th.

  Dec 04, 2021     Day 14 - (36 hours)       Category: Wings

Today began the process of disassembling the right wing framework, de-burring, cleaning, and priming the parts. There are a lot of parts, so that job took the entire session and we're still not quite finished. Next session will begin where we left off followed by reassembly of the frame. That session will be Saturday December 11th.

  Nov 20, 2021     Day 13 - (30 hours)       Category: Wings

Completing the last flaperon was today's first order of business. Once that was done, we began the process of locating and arranging parts for a wing. We decided to start on the right wing since it matched the drawings and would be less confusing. By the end of the session we had found all the internal wing parts and completed a test assembly. Beginning next session we will disassemble the frame, de-burr, and then prime the parts. The next session will be Saturday December 4th.

  Nov 13, 2021     Day 12 - (36 hours)       Category: Wings

Work on the flaperons continued on Saturday. An electronic level was used to ensure there was little or no twist in the control surfaces. After riveting, it was discovered that the skins were slightly binding on the attach brackets. Small files were used to relieve the contact. Three of the flaperons were finished leaving only one which is nearly done. On Sunday we held a Young Eagles event for 31 Sea Cadets. As part of the event the cadets were given a talk and hands-on demonstration of aircraft construction using the Veterans Build kit. The remaining flaperon will be completed next session and then work will begin on the left wing. The next session is November 20th.

  Nov 06, 2021     Day 11 - (36 hours)       Category: Wings

The flaperons are now nearly complete following Saturday's session. The framework parts were reassembled once again and then riveted together. The delicate process of attaching the skins was then begun. Sand bags were used to weigh down the frames and skins to ensure that they were absolutely flat and level to avoid any twist in the final control surfaces. That process will be probably be completed during the next session on November 13th, although a chapter event that day may slow things a bit.

  Oct 30, 2021     Day 10 - (36 hours)       Category: Wings

Work continued today on the flaperons. Attach brackets were formed and match-drilled. Parts were deburred and test fitted, then disassembled, cleaned, and primed. Final assembly was begun, but nothing has been riveted yet. The setup for riveting and attaching the skin is very important to avoid any twist in the structure. That will take place during the next session which is Saturday, November 6th.

  Oct 23, 2021     Day 9 - (36 hours)       Category: Wings

The focus today was on the flaperons. Due to their length and the need for an absolutely flat surface for assembly, we used a wing spar to help check and adjust slightly the surface of the work table. The next step was to locate and lay out the parts and then set to work deburring holes and filing rough edges. That process took most of the session. Near the end of the session the parts of the inner framework were test assembled. Next time the parts will be primed and final assembly begun. That will take place Saturday, October 30th at 9:00.