more flaps and ailerons
Yep, another fun filled weekend of flap and aileron construction. If you can’t tell, I’m just about ready to be done with these parts.
We started off by shooting a few remaining rivets on the flap skeletons. I’m happy to report that they all went well. It was then time to start stitching the flaps together. I used bags of lead shot to weight them down on the flat bench surface all along the way (as much as possible). This is supposed to help them come out straight with no twist. Even so, there is still plenty of opportunity to introduce a twist into these long flaps. The skin riveting process on the flaps is pretty easy except for the bottom skin to spar rivets which must be shot blind. This is no simple trick. I got one of the flaps closed up and the trailing edge bonded with proseal just like the ailerons. I still need to rivet the trailing edge after it has had a day or two to sit.
Tanya and I (yes, she has been shooting most of the skin rivets) got much of the second flap riveted together except for the bottom skin. For some simple storage space, I took some of the cardboard that came in the fuselage crates and put it on top of the wings to make a place to temporarily put parts. This has been working out very well.
I decided to take a little break from flaps and got out the ailerons. The trailing edges had been curing on them for a couple of days so they were ready for riveting. I got both of the aileron trailing edges riveted using the same method that I used on the empennage (squeeze the rivet with a modified flat set, then back rivet with a mushroom set). Both trailing edges came out very straight. I’m pleased. Then I was able to move on to installing the aileron hinge brackets. This is kind of fun although a bit slow because I’m taking much care to get them on straight.
