Day 89

Got the Flap and Aileron aligned and riveted for the left wing today.

We first needed to loosen the hinge bolts slightly. It took a little more effort to rotate than was necessary. The build manual advised between 5-7.9 fps. We went with the median at 6 fps. That was too tight for these hinges, so we back them off just slightly, and the move much smoother now.

To align the flaps and ailerons, you match them up to the straight line, carefully drop the flap and then pull the first rivet in the center. Then you lift it back up, check (and if necessary make adjustments) its alignment, drop the panel and pull the next rivets outwards from the center rivet. This process is repeated until the entire length of the flap and aileron are riveted.

After the alignment is set in place along the overlapping panels and the 3x8mm rivets are pulled, you move onto the rib brackets, clear drilling and pulling the 4x12mm countersunk rivets.

Our first wing turned out perfect. We took great care to get everything to line up just right. We’re very happy with how well it turned out.

We also used some fuel tank sealant that arrived yesterday to reseal the leaks on our other fuel tank. That way it can cure out over the weekend and be able to leak test it again early next week. It is our goal to have the other wing finished by the end of next week.