Wings

Big day today. It's always a big day when all the prep work is finished and you finally get to rivet things together for good. In order to rivet the flaps together in the easiest way, I fabricated a pair of V-blocks to hold them upright. The easiest way is usually the best way to avoid making mistakes. Once the blocks are secured to the work bench, the final riveting can begin. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, riveting the ribs to the bottom spar has to take place.

The big rivet in the center is an 1/8" rivet used to hold the ends of the ribs to the pseudo spar. These rivets go in first.

The ends of the ribs are now riveted onto the bottom skins' spar, with the shims in place to fill the gaps.

The inboard rib (the one with the beefy brackets and stiffeners) had this nutplate riveted on first, then the bracket. The rib isn't riveted to the spar just yet, however. The end ribs will be riveted on later and will be removed for a time.

Now the rest of the flap is assembled for final riveting. Here's my right flap, ready for the v-block cradle.

Here's the left flap in the v-block cradle I built for this purpose. Now the spar is removed so you can reach inside and rivet the skins to the ribs, and the bottom horizontal row of rivets that hold the top and bottom skins together.

Here's a shot looking down into the flap, after removing the spar and riveting it all together. Rivets look great! This actually worked very well. I had no problems getting this much finished. When all the rivets that you reach from inside are finished, the spar is put back in place and riveted to the ends of the ribs with pop rivets. Then you cleco the hinge in place and rivet the horizontal rows that join the spar to the hinge and skins.

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