It’s always sad when I don’t get a lot of updates posted about progress to the airplane. This semester has been pretty busy.
This is a catch all for all the work we’ve put into the plane since the last update (sometime in October). (Later realized I had a draft from Nov 18, so there may be some overlap here, but I’ll post both of them.)
The right wing has been covered, taped, and patched. It is now ready for paint.
Nothing too exciting else to report there. The process is similar to all the other covering with the exceptions of a few spots that I mentioned in a previous post. I did have the same issues around the tip bow, but this time I only had to use one patch to cover my mess!
The right wing is now covered and riveted. It is ready for tapes, exit rings, and patches. I applied a few things I learned on the right wing to help myself out a bit. The biggest one was the light coat of glue applied to all the sheet metal. This time I thinned down the EkoBond a good bit and brushed it on with a foam brush. This eliminated the bubbles completely and was thin enough not to leave any ridges. As a note, I did babysit it while it was drying since it would tend to get some ridges in it. I would just go back over it and brush it down again and by the time everything had dried I had successfully avoided any problems.
These differences in the wings are annoying, but I figure it’s a good teaching moment if anyone ever call me out on it. Of course I will vehemently deny any sub par covering for a few weeks and then I will give up and discuss it. Maybe EAA can give out awards for the most improvement shown over an airplane build at Oshkosh. Maybe an aluminum, copper, or tin Lindy?
One thing that I really wanted to reiterate is how awesome covering is with a second person. This wing went smoother and it was a lot less of a headache with some extra hands. Placing the plastic strips and tape on the ribs was much faster when I wasn’t trying to hold everything, cut things, and not drop scissor onto my nice fabric while I was working by myself.
(30 h)
