10/17/2009

Christmas Eve, 2008

After laying off all summer because of the intense heat in the hanger here in Phoenix in the afternoons when I get off work, I am motivated to start working hard again. I have been working on the wifes airplane a lot this summer and fall though. I plan to make a lot of progress on the RV-4 this winter.

right wing skins

Before I drilled the ribs to the skins, I did one last check of the straightness of the ribs by laying a straightedge from the marked locations for the top and bottom hole for each rib and adjusted as required. A sharpie pen then drew a line down each rib. When the skins are put in place for riveting, the line should show through the holes in the skin.




















Bottom inboard skin clecoed on.
















Top skins clecoed on.

Right wing cont.....

Drilled and clecoes all of the right wing main ribs to the rear spar.

Right wing cont...

Finished drilling and fitting the leading edge ribs that go on the front side of the spar.
















The angles were temporarily attached with old AN hardware and Ace hardware nuts for ease of removal. New AN nuts and bolts will be used in the final assembly.

RV-6a Wing Mounting Cont...

Mounted the right wing to the RV-6a today.
















Set up the right wing spar for the RV-4 in the wing jig now that the RV-6 wing was removed.

Wing fitting on RV-6a

Finished riveting the final outside skins on the left and wings on Friday.
Saturday, I fitted the right wing to the RV-6a fuselage. It was interesting to remove the wing from the jig and insert it into the fuselage all by myself. I made some temporary fixtures that I could use to move the wing a little at a time. The rear spar attach bracket fit perfectly to the rear spar. (sigh of relief!)

The wing spars for the RV-4 and the RV-4 are in the background of the picture.