Install Top Left Wing Skins August 29, 2008

Clecoed and riveted top wiing skins onto left wing. The stiffening flange on the leading edge slipped into place with little persuasion. Greatest challenge was getting holes to line up to accept rivet. Plans very well written and most things are clear.

Moved onto the wing walk doubler. I was expecting difficulty with this as posted on Jerry's and Jim's blog, but following the plans and starting forward lower edge and working up and aft made things go pretty smoothly without the use of straps, etc. Some challenge in getting the holes to accept rivets after all clecoes in place, but used awl and eventually found it necessary to drill a few holes. Many time the hole looked to line up perfectly, but still would not let a rivet slip in. I did not want to force rivets so as not to deform the underlying rib. All went well and makes me worried that it was too easy!

Tomorrow I'll move on to installation of the access hatch and hand hold, etc.

Leading Edge Skins (Left Wing) August 28, 2008

Completed riveting leading edge skins on L wing. Unsure whether to rivet bottom rivet holes but could not find another place in plans that called for this and so moved ahead and riveted these too. installing hinge ribs on page 17-03. Used the close-in hand rivet tool from Avery. Worked well. Next move to installation of upper wing skins. Stripped vinyl from W1201BL and clecoed into place on inboard section of wing. Done for the night!

Riveting the L Leading Edge

Brian came over to help me flip the left wing. Wendy pitched in to protect the leading edge the flip went without incident. Then Brian and I clecoed the skins (W1201, 1202 & 1203 into place. It was good to have an extra set of hands to help line up the holes. Thanks Brian! We also used an awl to help with this. After skins clecoed in place, we checked the stall warning vane to be sure that it still had the right play and found it not to engage. So, I reached into the wing from the rear, loosened the 2 screws and we readjusted to get it right (again!). Hopefully this will be last adjustment necessary on the stall warning switch installation.

Left Wing Bottom Skin Install, August 24, 2008

Back at it at 11:30 a.m. Started with step #3 on p. 17-02, calling for 3/8 drill out for the tie down ring. This worked but the result was not as good as I would have liked. The drill made a hole not perfectly circular. Took round file and filed edges.


Next, clecoed and riveted outboard skin to skeleton. Paid particular attention to the "leave open" directions (don't want any re-do's if I can help it). Deburred edges before clecoeing. Clecoed and riveted with no problems.







Finally, step #5, clecoe the W-1202L skin to the middle. Again, double and triple check instructions to avoid mistakes. All went well and completed task at 2:30.

58.5 hours into the project as of today (does not count study time!)

Wiring & Installing Terminal Brackets, Begin Skins, August 23, 2008

After futzing around with the stall warning switch installation for more time than necessary, I moved on to the wiring and installing the terminal brackets. (Important note: the plans call for building the L & R wings at the same time. I cannot do this because my aim is to build the RV12 in a one car garage and don't have room for wings to be built simultaneously.)

While following the directions and attaching the terminal and ground wires to the W1205L using the screws and nuts called for, I discovered that the inventory indicated that 2 MS21042-08 nuts were provided (and they were) but the plans require 3. Two for the W1205L and 1 for the W1205R. I will order another from Van's tomorrow.

Since I'm only working on one wing at a time, I could move on to the WING SKINS, section 17-02! Brian was with me and we flipped the wing skeleton so that it was upside down on the table. So far, no surprises in lining up the holes and riveting. Some holes looked like the lined up perfectly but the rivet would not go in, even with gentle persuasion. I attempted to line them up using an awl with some success. Those that would not accept a rivet received a #30 drill visit. All went well and the W1201L inboard skin was installed before calling it a day.

Remove Plastic from Skin before Adjusting Stall Switch, August 22, 2008

I wasn't going to work on the plane tonight, but it occurred to me that when I had tested the stall indicator switch vane movement, I had done so with the plastic on the skin. So, down to the garage I went and removed the vinyl covering, reinstall the skin, check the vane movement and found that without the plastic the switch needed readjustment. Whew! Glad I thought of that.

Each time I have tested this it has resulted in some fine tuning. I will retest during skin installation and before riveting to be sure it is correct.

Stall Warning Switch Installation, August 20, 2008

I visited Van's today during lunch hour to get the correct washers for the stall warning mechanism. Bruce helped me. Van's had not included the #4 washer called for in the plans, but they had included a few extra #4L washers. They were out of the #4 and had not indicated this on the packing slip and so I've been trying to solve the mystery for 4 days now. Bruce's solution was to double up on the #4L because they are 1/2 the thickness of the #4's. He also stated that what mattered was that these washers act as spacers. Nice to know.

The switch finally goes together and seems to be correct. I 1st installed the vane upside down and didn't see the error until after the wing skin was clecoed in place. I felt good to catch this at this stage and not later. I put it together at least 4 times,discovering errors each time. The end result is a stall warning switch that works like the directions call for.