Previous: Empennage Attach

8/11 - 8/18/2013 - 16 hours

Upon our return from AirVenture 2013 I am once again super motivated to get this plane in the air. So I spent a good part of the past two weekends at the airport getting a lot of little things done, and a few bigger things as well.

While at Oshkosh I bought fresh epoxy resin. I used this resin to bond the remaining empennage tips in place.

Next up was the tail strobe. I had to find a location to connect the ground wire for the position light. Once I did that I installed the connectors for both the position light and the strobe (it is one unit, but has two connectors).

I had to drill a hole for the wires. I drilled it just below the lowest hinge, and I installed a snap bushing through wich to run the wires.

And there it is, one tail strobe/position light.

These are brackets that connect the wing root fairings to the fuselage. They have to be fluted so the holes match up.

Jonny helped to debur the holes.

The undersides of the center spar corners need to be beveled according to the plans, so I did that on both sides.

After a bunch of prep work Jonny helped me pin the right wing in place.

Instructions also call for the root fairings to be bent by hand to match the wing, so I did that on both sides.

So here it is with both wings pinned temporarily in place. I marked the locations for holes and for cutting the fuel lines. I need to finish up a few things and then remove the wings one more time before they go on forever.

8/18 - 11/30/2013 - 50 hours

It's been a while since I've done an update, so here I go with everything I've done since August.

With the wings temporarily pinned in place, I was able to get the root fairings prepared.

Here's the plumbing for the left fuel tank. It extends downward through the root fairing.

With the wing off the plane once again I was able to install the platenuts in the flange.

After installing the platenuts in the root flange, I also riveted these parts to the fuselage.

I had to provide a hole through the fuselage skin to connect the remaining items in the wing:

* Pitot
* Pitot Heat
* AOA port
* Nav Antenna
* Com Antenna
* Stall warning

Here is the root attachment fairings all finished up...

Wires...

More wires...

Here's the AOA port...

Heated Pitot controller...

The wing bolts are now permanently installed and torqued.

Spacer installed with red RTV.

What I don't have pictures of is the wiring work I did wiring the lights and the antennas in the wing tips.

My wife took this unique photo. I like it.

Next: Rigging