Right Wing Top Skins Completed
Today was the day. The day we could remove the wings from the stands if we wanted. What was it going to to take? Finishing the top skins on the right wing. In keeping with the tradition of putting the “slow” in the “slow build,” it was time to hit the shop again after a long absence.
I discussed with my son Alex what he was planning to do for the day. He made the mistake of replying, “nothing much, why?” It was settled, and we headed out to the shop about mid day after getting our house chores done.
Alex has never riveted anything up to this point. So first things first, we knocked out the “you will have the means to damage a lot really quick” briefing. Then did some demonstrations and planning and we went at it. He did GREAT! Had him use the gun/flush set on the spar/skin rivets, and then he was on the back rivet bucking bar for the skin/ribs. There were a couple we had to redo, but overall, the back rivet technique worked as expected. Here you see him on the bar, while I am on the gun.
It took us about 5 hours to get all the remaining rivets done together, taking it slow for both our benefit. He was so interested in the process, he even stuck around to watch me squeeze the rear spar.
Fortunately for me, Alex is pretty thin. That will come in handy on the tail cone, as long as we can get to it before he’s a college grad.
We left the night with the right wing looking like this…cleco free. Hopefully sometime this week I’ll be able to get the wing cart configured and the stands out of the way. Unfortunately, we need to do some automotive repair on the third car now that we can clear the space in the shop. I have a highly motivated older teen, so hopefully the car won’t be in the way for long, and we can get back to the build.
This was a big milestone in many ways.
It sure was cool to get a new riveting partner. Two down, two more immediate family to go.