Author Archives: pclifton

Match-drilled left tank

Posted on August 1, 2014 by pclifton

I went out to the garage with pretty low expectations tonight. I figured I’d aim to shoot all the main wing rib rivets that I could manage by myself, and then just kind of wing it from there. Well, there … Continue reading →

Posted in Fuel Tanks, Wings | Hours Logged: 3

Removed a rib

Posted on July 31, 2014 by pclifton

So I ended up shooting an email to the support folks at Van’s for their input on my bad rivet from Monday. A few guys on VAF had indicated that the rivet might be OK to leave as-is. I liked … Continue reading →

Posted in Wings | Hours Logged: 1

Started riveting right wing skeleton

Posted on July 29, 2014 by pclifton

Popped out into the garage tonight figuring I could get going with the right wing skeleton. First I had to cleco all those ribs to the main spar, which was fairly straightforward…until I got to one rib that seemed off. … Continue reading →

Posted in Wings | Hours Logged: 1

Primed right wing main ribs

Posted on July 28, 2014 by pclifton

Well, this hasn’t been a particularly productive weekend in terms of hours worked, but getting these wing ribs primed removes a fairly significant bottleneck for me. I’ve been hesitant to keep working on the left wing for the tim being; … Continue reading →

Posted in Wings | Hours Logged: 4

Tank attach angles

Posted on July 27, 2014 by pclifton

Well, we had quite a day out here. We decided to run down to the beach with dogs and make a half-day or so out of it. Unfortunately, things got interesting on the way home – the car overheated. Seems … Continue reading →

Posted in Fuel Tanks, Wings | Hours Logged: 2.5

Tank stiffeners

Posted on July 26, 2014 by pclifton

So I had a good little mini-vacation this past weekend. I even got in a little flying while I was in Raleigh, doing an Arrow checkout up there. I’d hoped to be able to take my niece up for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Fuel Tanks, Wings | Hours Logged: 2

Right wing rib deburring

Posted on July 16, 2014 by pclifton

Just did a short stint in the garage tonight. My main goal right now is to get the right wing ribs to a point where I can prime them the next chance I have. So tonight I pulled the right … Continue reading →

Posted in Wings | Hours Logged: 1

Fitting left tank, right wing skeleton drilling

Posted on July 14, 2014 by pclifton

So when we left off yesterday, I’d victoriously dropped the fuel tank onto the spar, only to find that the joint plate was too wide. As such, the first order of business today was to fix that. First off, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Fuel Tanks, Wings | Hours Logged: 5

Left tank attach brackets, tank fitting

Posted on July 13, 2014 by pclifton

Technically, I did a little work last night, but not enough to merit writing an entry. All I did was go out and finish stapling the carpet onto my C-frame table thingy, which took maybe half an hour. I also … Continue reading →

Posted in Fuel Tanks, Wings | Hours Logged: 7

Tank attach angles, C-frame fixture

Posted on July 9, 2014 by pclifton

First order of business today was simple: drilling the skin hole for the tiedown attach to full size. I actually skipped a step a while back that’s relevant here; the plans tell you to draw a couple of lines on … Continue reading →

Posted in Fuel Tanks, Wings | Hours Logged: 3