Since the top part of the skin attachment had proved so tricky I decided that I would get the two out board slats in the same position as the pilot-side inboard slat: waiting for the top of the skin to be attached. So I basically repeated the steps from before: drilled the doublers into...
Monthly Archives: December 2010
Day 14: Top Skin to Pax Inner Slat Ribs (3h)
I had a couple of replies on the forums. One went into some detail about how they had used straps to cinch the metal skin to the ribs and then four pairs of hands to push the skin down while someone tried to get the holes in the ribs to line up “all with...
Day 13: Left side inboard slat (1h 50m)
While waiting for some online help on finishing the first slat I got started on preparing the second inboard slat, the left one, or pilot’s side. I basically repeated all the steps from the previous days with the pax-side slat but I got them all done in one day. Drill #40 holes through the...
Day 12: Install ribs to right inboard slat (1h 35m)
In what is becoming a common start to the build day, the first task we deburring all the holes, applying our primer and then re-assembling everything for riveting. Before Christmas I bought a compressor so that we could use the air gun for riveting – that box of 3000 rivets is scary! – so...
Day 11: Slat Ribs and (1h 30m)
The day started off with completing the 8 ribs by deburring the holes, applying protection and then riveting together the rib, L-angle and bracket. After this the ribs were cleco’d into place on the skin using the pre-drilled holes Note how cool it is that the ribs pull the skin into shape underneath. Then...
Day 10: Assembling Slat Ribs to Slat Supports (1h 15)
Each of the four skins has three ribs inside, two of those ribs get assembled by cutting up a piece of L-angle metal and bending it to the shape of the rib. Then a slat support piece is placed between the rib and the bracket piece and they are riveted together. I figured I...
Day 9: First Slat Doubler (1 h)
There are 2 slats and each one comes in 2 pieces that are joined together when they are put on the wing. Each piece is constructed the same so I chose one at random, turned out to be the inboard passenger side piece. Step one is to mark a doubler so that it lines...
Tail Kit and Slats/Flaperons Kit Arrives!
Phase 2 of the build began this weekend with the arrival of the next two kits: the Horizontal Tail kit, and the Slats and Flaperons kit. Even though I knew how big the parts were I hadn’t really been prepared for the size of the crate; that thing was huge! I can’t begin to...