Gap Fairings Installed, Flap Work – 3 hrs

Sunday Mar 6, 2011

Today I riveted the aileron gap fairings onto the wing skeleton. I was able to use my pneumatic squeezer for all of these rivets. These fairings really stiffen up the aft edge of the skin that overhangs the aileron.

Aileron gap fairing installed

Then I was able to install the left aileron onto the wing including the control linkages. This is really a check of the fit and clearances and I will probably remove it later but it is nice to see it come together.

Left aileron initial install

The only problem I found was a slight rubbing of the control rod that passes through the rear spar. But I will wait until I have aligned the aileron longitudinally before deciding if I need to enlarge the cut-out a bit. I also trimmed and deburred the right flap brace. So both are cleco’d onto the wings now.

Inspecting aileron linkage clearance

Back on the flaps I made shims for three of the ribs on the left flap. The instructions tell you that shims “may be required” but it seems that everybody needs them. I found that 0.025 was about the right thickness for these. Here is one cleco’d in between the rib and the lower skin.

Flap rib spacer

Then I match drilled the spar to the ribs for LP4-3 rivets.

Flap spar drilled to ribs

Aileron Brackets and Gap Fairing – 5 hrs

Saturday Mar 5, 2011

Still feeling a sense of sadness (see post yesterday) I continued today with the aileron brackets. First step was to reassemble the brackets, the final step of rework after I discovered that several of the parts were swapped incorrectly. Riveting was by cupped set on the rivet gun and a tungsten bucking bar. Here are all four brackets ready for installation on the wing.

Aileron brackets reassembled

Then I cleco’d the brackets to the wing and match drilled. After removing burrs I riveted the four brackets to the wing skeleton. Here is one of the outboard brackets installed.

Outboard bracket riveted

Then I cleco’d on the aileron gap fairings and match drilled the holes in the rear spar and top skin.

Aileron gap fairing cleco'd and match drilled

That was followed by deburring, deglossing with scotch-brite, smoothing the edges with a scotch-brite wheel and a little hand work, cleaning and priming. Here they are in the paint booth.

Gap fairings primed

Denise cleared some stuff out of the garage this morning, sold some of it at a garage sale, and cleaned up the rest to free up much needed space. I am glad to have a three car garage for this project. Here is the wing cradle in the new free space. This leaves plenty of room for the fuselage which I will be starting soon.

More space in the garage

I also trimmed one of the flap braces. You can see the shallow angle cut that follows parallel to the rear spar stiffener.

Flap brace fit check