aviator79's build

[BobRS]

Brian
I put inspection ports near the pitot tubes (I have 2, one for the AFS panel, and a back up to a steam gauge ASI). I've used them both. I also have an inspection port near the rear bell crank, but I'm still flexible enough to crawl into the cargo area and haven't "cut it out". When you come down to ABQ, I'll show you what we did.

BobRS
SS7, Trigear
Flying N104Y, 914

[aviator79]

This week I added inspection rings, doilies, gussets, and most of the tapes on the right wing. I realized the middle of last week that the kit does not include 1" tapes for the false ribs. I should get a roll of tape today so that I can continue. I decided to do inspection rings directly under the finger strainer fitting, in the bays that have LS or JS attach fittings, and in the second to last bay. This makes it so that every bay has a ring or is adjacent to one that does. It should permit inspection of most anything using a borescope.

I'm happy to say that the gussets on the LS attach brackets completely hide the ugly lurking beneath. I'll definitely follow the polyfiber instructions instead of the KF manual instructions when I do the left wing, but all is well that ends well.

Doing the taping went by the PF book. I installed all the 2" rib tapes, the spar tape, and the trailing edge tape. The only slight difficulty I had was doing the trailing edge tape. It would have been very helpful to have a second person doing this job. It would have been nice to have extra hands to hold the tape while I brushed on the wet polybrush. As it was, I was trying to hold the tape, but not pull it off where I had already applied it, while working quickly enough to lay tape into wet polybrush. It is managable, but it took a lot of heat smoothing after it dried to get the wrinkles and bubbles out. The Poly Fiber manual is correct though: with patience and a calibrated iron, you can work out pretty much any imperfection. I may have spent a good two hours just heat smoothing the trailing edge tape. I also heat smoothed every square cm of every tape that I've installed.

Since I had some time waiting for 1" tape, I also fit the center console sides, Installed the nutplates for the seat pan, finished fitting up the vertical stab fairing, and used some filler to clean up a few rough spots.

I didn't take that many pictures, but I'll post what I have. Hopefully I'll have more to add next week.

[aviator79]

One thing to add for anyone following along from the beginning: After covering, the "waviness" that concerned me at the rear of the LLE is no longer apparent. The tension in the fabric holds the edge down, and it looks great.

[jiott]

I had more than enough 2" tape, so I just cut it in half, with pinking shears, to get 1" tape. Also, I think you get way more than enough 4" tape.

[aviator79]

Just posting a couple additional photos of last week's progress.

Spar tape, TE tape, and top false rib tapes installed:



Shot down the aft edge of the LLE:

[David47]

You’re powering ahead Brian. Great work.

[aviator79]

A lot of hours put into a small number of tasks this week as the covering proceeds. I've gotten through the second sprayed coat of Poly Spray. I should be able to finish it this week.

Poly Fiber is a labor-intensive process. I thank John for his advice to spread the covering out over the build. I enjoy the process, but by the time I finish this wing I'll be ready to do something else for awhile. I can't help but think this wing would be done if I were using Oratex. I believe my reasons for sticking with Poly Fiber are still valid, so I don't regret the decision. However, I would bet that Oratex-like systems are the future of fabric covering just on account of how much labor they save.

Taping complete. (and heat smoothed and heat smoothed and heat smoothed.):


2/3 sprayed coats of Poly Brush:

[aviator79]

More covering this week. I'm done covering the right wing (through Poly-Spray). Covering is a lot of work. I've spent about as much time covering the wing as I did on all of the assembly tasks for the wing.

With covering done, I also fit and trimmed the right wingtip and cut holes for the lights. I fretted about this step when reading the instructions, but in practice it wasn't difficult. The tip with the light provision fit pretty nicely when trimmed to the scribe line, and the length was spot-on. I've got some Superfil curing today because the fiberglass needed some cleanup. The gelcoat didn't make it all the way to the scribe lines, and also chipped in some places while I was trimming. Once I clean that up the right wing will be done! I had intended to move the right wing out of the garage and bring in the left, but we had wet slushy snow yesterday, so thought it better to wait. So this afternoon I'll get the left wing into the shop and start all over.

Since I couldn't move the wings, I finished fitting and bonding the VS fairing. I really did a shameful hack job on this fairing and can't wait to get fabric on it. The manual basically just says to align, trim and glue it. There is a lot more to it than that by the time it fits the ribs and has the required holes, slots, notches and reliefs to clear the bosses, rudder stops, weldments and welds. I made a few mistakes that needed to be corrected with Hysol. And despite my best efforts, I won't be winning any Hysol artistry awards. I see pictures in other build logs of beautiful hysol fillets that make it look like mine was applied by an impatient three year old. I do my best to use a gloved finger in denatured alcohol to clean them up, but I'm still glad that they'll be under the fabric.

All silvery. Looks like a real airplane wing. There are some imperfections that won't be present on the other wing.




Scribe line taped to assist with trimming:


Gelcoat doesn't make it to the sribe line. I'm glad it fit well, as I didn't have much excess material to "sneak up" on the scribe line if I would have had to iterate a few times to get the fit right.


Fits well. Hopefully the left goes as smoothly. The Superfil that I'm using will also make up some of the thickness to the wing, but there will still be a small step at the tip-to-wing joint.






Lights:






If quality were measured in the number of clamps used, then my work would be top notch.

[Clark in AZ]

Looks great Brian. Good job on the covering, even with the class I'm sure there was a learning curve.

I'm picking up my SuperSTOL next week.

Clark

[aviator79]

Thanks Clark.

The biggest thing that bothers me is the trailing edge. The Al trailing edge is a "V" channel. That V angle isn't consistent across the wing and is more acute than the rib trailing edge angle in between some of the ribs. It is minor enough that I thought the fabric would fair over it, but it's very apparent on the covered wing where the fabric comes over the tubular TE reinfocement and steps down to the "V" channel. An hour and half of Superfil work would have enhanced the appearance of the trailing edge substantially. The bigger lesson learned here is anytime a voice in your head says "The fabric will cover that", you best check it with your fingers. If you can feel it, it will show.

You can see it here:


You must be super excited about your plane. Next time I'm in the valley, would you mind if I stopped by and took a look?