Author Archives: pclifton

Right flap done

Fairly uneventful evening, just repeating the work from last weekend, except without ruining any parts this time around. I had one blind rivet through the spar that didn’t set right, and I had to drill it out (CAREFULLY), but that … Continue reading

Posted in Flaps, Wings | Hours Logged: 2.5

Replacement flap rib prep

Got my shipment from Van’s today, including the replacement for my botched flap rib. After dinner, I retired to the garage to get this thing up to speed. This is a little more complex than many replacement parts like this, … Continue reading

Posted in Flaps, Wings | Hours Logged: 1.5

Left flap done, right flap undone

Well, this day pretty much covered the full range of aircraft-building emotions. Friday I got in my shipment from Cleaveland, with my two new teeny tungsten bucking bars. These things are tiny (cleco for scale): And they worked great inside … Continue reading

Posted in Flaps, Wings | Hours Logged: 6.5

Deburring firewall stuff

So with the firewall temporarily put together, tonight it was time to rip it all back apart and clean up the angle pieces and such. I had some fitment issues last night that should be helped out by this. I … Continue reading

Posted in Fuselage | Hours Logged: 1.5

Firewall prep

My original intention for tonight was to try and make some more progress on finishing the flaps. However, after seeking some advice from other builders, I decided that…wait for it…I should get a new tool to help out here. Specifically, … Continue reading

Posted in Fuselage | Hours Logged: 1.5

Nine rivets

Yes, that’s right, in an hour and a half in the garage we shot a grand total of nine rivets. Working inside these flaps is no fun at all. We started out finishing up the bottom skin rivets; most of … Continue reading

Posted in Flaps, Wings | Hours Logged: 1.5

Aileron bellcrank rigging

As alluded to last night, my first goal tonight was to fix the far-too-tight aileron bellcranks so they’d pivot freely. This turned out to be fairly simple; I got an appropriate-size metal rod, taped on a piece of emery cloth, … Continue reading

Posted in Ailerons, Wings | Hours Logged: 1.5

Aileron rigging pregame

No help for riveting tonight, so I switched gears to work on getting the initial aileron rig done. First item of business was the attach point between the short pushrods and the aileron hinge bracket. Each aileron needs a spacer … Continue reading

Posted in Ailerons, Wings | Hours Logged: 2

Left flap riveting

So I haven’t been especially productive the past week or so, but tonight I finally got back out and got some stuff done. I started out by doing the solo riveting on the left flap: riveting the ribs to the … Continue reading

Posted in Flaps, Wings | Hours Logged: 2

Right flap riveting again

Whew, finally back to work. First order of business tonight was to start riveting the joint between the top and bottom skin. I’d been intending to have Josie come out and help with this, but she was working late again, … Continue reading

Posted in Flaps, Wings | Hours Logged: 2