Fuselage - Cabin

2007-09-02 - Fit the right wing. (4.5 Hrs).

Well, I finally decided to go ahead and fit the wings. I don't plan on drilling the rear spar. I just feel that the garage is too confined to do this now, and I don't want to screw it up. But I figured it might be good to checkout the wiring entry location, cut the hole for the flap push rods, and do any other fuselage-to-wing preparation.

I have been procrastinating about this for several months, and I probably would have put it off again, if not for Yogesh. He asked me what I was doing for my Labor Day weekend, and I mentioned that I might try to make a sling for my hoist, so I could fit the right wing on my airplane. He asked if he could come over and help out, so I couldn't very well put this off any longer. Sometimes you just need a little push.

Wing in position, just need to rotate it and hoist it to the right height. Except, you cannot hoist it with the tie-down straps without bending the top skins. So, I needed to build a sling that would position the tie-down straps past the edges of the wing. Turned-out to be a 5 foot 2x4 with hooks on the ends.

Yogesh wanted to see the project, so I put him to work.

In a little, a lot to go. It would have helped to bevel the end of the wing spar a little, just like the instructions said to do. Of course, that assumes that you read the instructions.

After pushing for awhile without making any progress, Yogesh pointed out that we were up against the bolt in the bottom of the center section spar that attaches the gear weldement to the wing center section. I couldn't believe that I would have left this in if it would interfere.

Looks like we are hung-up on the rear spar now, which seems to be way off. This just did not fit. How is this possible? So, what to do? I ended up taking a screw driver and bending the aft bar a little. Just a little, don't get excited!

Problem solved.

Next, we were hung-up on the bottom skins. I managed to get half of the center section bottom skin above the wing skin, and half below the wing. Again, a screw driver slid between the two skins solved the problem. As before, the instructions warn about this, but who reads instructions, anyway.

Finally, one bolt in place, but the starter bolt still does not fit in the other hole, and the bottom two holes are way off.

It turns out that we have quite a bit of dihedral on these wings, so raise the outboard end a little, push some more, feel the hole with a smaller bolt to see which way we need to go, and ...

After a few hours--success!

When I started, this table was cleared. I needed all of this stuff to get the wing in. When I was done, I looked at the instructions. They say "Actual installation of the wing panels should be very simple..." Yeah, right, if you've done this before, and if you read the instructions, maybe. Another example of tech writer humor.

	Wing in position, just need to rotate it and hoist it to the right height. Except, you cannot hoist it with the tie-down straps without bending the top skins. So, I needed to build a sling that would position the tie-down straps past the edges of the wing. Turned-out to be a 5 foot 2x4 with hooks on the ends.
	Yogesh wanted to see the project, so I put him to work.
	In a little, a lot to go. It would have helped to bevel the end of the wing spar a little, just like the instructions said to do. Of course, that assumes that you read the instructions.
	After pushing for awhile without making any progress, Yogesh pointed out that we were up against the bolt in the bottom of the center section spar that attaches the gear weldement to the wing center section. I couldn't believe that I would have left this in if it would interfere.
	Looks like we are hung-up on the rear spar now, which seems to be way off. This just did not fit. How is this possible? So, what to do? I ended up taking a screw driver and bending the aft bar a little. Just a little, don't get excited!
	Problem solved.
	Next, we were hung-up on the bottom skins. I managed to get half of the center section bottom skin above the wing skin, and half below the wing. Again, a screw driver slid between the two skins solved the problem. As before, the instructions warn about this, but who reads instructions, anyway.
	Finally, one bolt in place, but the starter bolt still does not fit in the other hole, and the bottom two holes are way off.
	It turns out that we have quite a bit of dihedral on these wings, so raise the outboard end a little, push some more, feel the hole with a smaller bolt to see which way we need to go, and ...
	After a few hours--success!
	When I started, this table was cleared. I needed all of this stuff to get the wing in. When I was done, I looked at the instructions. They say "Actual installation of the wing panels should be very simple..." Yeah, right, if you've done this before, and if you read the instructions, maybe. Another example of tech writer humor.