July 6th - 12th, 2002

The Wings

Here's the left wing frame with the ribs slid into place.

 

The wing tank support in place.

 

The tank installed and belted down.

 

A shot down the center of the wing.

 

The inboard and outboard "widgets" had to be notched to fit over the compression strut gussets. Here's the leading edge widget. I used a Dremel tool to cut the notches.

 

This is the trailing edge widget. More material had to be removed to get this one in.

Here's the leading edge wrap going on. It took lots of ratchet straps, a little blood, and the invaluable help of my good flying buddy Russ Hauser to get it installed. Note the chalk lines to keep the rows of rivets lined up.

 

After the wrap is riveted down, a 1/2 inch bend needs to be rolled on the edges. Russ showed me a tool that our friend and master craftsman Dan Hepner uses for the purpose. Russ made a couple of them for me.

 

The notch is put over the edge and the tool is run up and down, adding more bend on each pass. A little soapy water helps the process.

 

That's a wrap.

HomeBack