Left Wing Moving Along

This last weekend and last night I got quite a bit done.  I am really moving along on this wing.  The executive summary is that I have the leading edge ready for riveting.  I’ve started on the fuel tank, but only just.

Before last weekend I got the left wing transferred to the rack.  I got it all nice and tightened down.  I then fit all the lower skins and match drilled them.   This weekend I assembled the leading edge and got it deburred dimpled and primed.  It just needs rivets at this point.

I will probably order a new light kit so that I can get the light fixture hole cut, before I rivet.

See the large hole in the foreground of the last picture?  That was a mystery to me when I brought the skin down from the attic.  There was nothing on the plans that showed that hole.  I double checked the part number to make sure that I hadn’t been sent an RV-12 skin, or some such.  Eventually I had to check VAF.  What I found out was Vans has started sending a stall warning kit with their wings.  Up until last year it was an option that you had to order, now it is standard gear.

When I get to the stall warning installation part, I’ll go into more detail.  The kit comes with complete instructions on how to assemble it.

For some reason I cannot explain Vans has you start on the fuel tank right after you assemble the leading edge.  Why they don’t just get you to finish the leading edge, I dont understand.  I did go a bit further on it this time, though.  I got it completely ready for riveting.  At least the prep work is over now.

I started the tanks by reviewing what I had done on the other wing.  It isn’t hard to do, but I had to remember the steps.  Once I started, everything just fell into place.

I wont rehash the steps for this first part, but I will say that this is the only way to start the fuel tanks.  Doing it Vans way is way to error prone and this method takes all of that out.

My next posts should be all about the left fuel tank.  Hopefully I’ll be ready to proseal by the next post.