We went and picked up the fuselage kit yesterday evening. I love new toys. ABF freight was a pleasure to work with. The crate had been treated very well. No issues. We had to unpack some of the crate to lighten it enough to get it off of the truck and into the garage. No big deal with the nicely wrapped sub-kits. Too bad not too much building has been happening lately. It is rainy today, maybe I’ll get to it :).
I got the call from ABF freight that the fuselage kit should be here this Friday! Fun, time to get these wings done.
I finally got a chance to spend some quality time in the garage. For the first time in a long time (it seems), we had a Sunday without a bunch of stuff planned. I decided I would brave the outdoors (100 degrees) and prep the aileron counterbalance tubes for primer. I cleaned them up and did a metal prep etch in the grass with the hose. I then retreated to the nice 76 degree garage and prepared a small batch of primer which I shot on the tubes and a couple of other parts that needed (non alclad) to be primed before assembly.
That was about it for the day. Next up is to dimple a few flap parts and then all of the ailerons and flaps will be ready to rivet together. That always goes pretty fast.
I’m deburring flap parts. Almost one per couple of days :). Real work got crazy and stressful (last man standing).
I’m still working on flaps and ailerons. Both ailerons are ready to be riveted together. I’m just starting to match drill the flaps. Not too exciting.
The logistics officer reports that the fuselage kit has been ordered.
I have completed edge deburring all of the parts and skins for the flaps and ailerons. Not the most fun part of the project, but is quiet necessary. I like to knock it all out at once. Tanya did blue plastic removal on the skins. Time to drill some holes.
It is now time for flaps and ailerons. I brought all the parts down from the airplane parts storage room. Back to removing blue plastic, edge deburring, and general parts prep. Lots of little pieces to keep busy with.
I got the aileron hinge brackets drilled, primed, assembled and riveted on to the rear spar. Many thanks to my rivet shooter, as she made installation a non-event. Moving on. I’m starting to get the sense that it is about time to order a fuselage kit…
We did indeed finish up riveting the top wing skins over the Easter weekend. It sure is fun to get things stitched together. I’m finishing up squeezing a few of the rear spar rivets.
