Wings

Today I finally started putting components of the wing together for the first time. The first thing, of course, was to mount the spar assembly to the wing jig. This took quite a while, by the time I got the supporting brackets made, bolted on to the 4 x 4's, and got the spar leveled, clamped down, supported in the middle underneath to take out the sag, and so on. Then, the first thing to go on is the previously-assembled leading edge.

I used a cleco in every hole, since this sucker was not easy to get together. I wanted it solid with no margin for mistakes. Once it was on the spar, I slipped in the end rib you see here, drilled it in place, and then removed the clecos and slipped the splice plate in place, drilled and clecoed it.

It's quite a bit of work, but you want this piece done right. It's very satisfying to see it all together. At this point, all the other ribs were drilled to the skin, too. Then I took it off, took it all apart, deburred everything, and dimpled most of the parts, too.

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