Wing mating is expected in the next days. But before a few tasks have to be done :
- find the drawings for the wing, the flaps and the ailerons
- take the flaps and ailerons out of storage, prepare associated hardware
- fabricate a drilling guide for the rear spar
- fabricate the spacer as shown in the plans to measure the wing incidence
- prepare the bolts for both spars
- mark the rear spar fork for the allowed spot for drilling, the center of the hole will have to be in the little square



- install the fuel tank brackets



-install the rod ends for the flaps. To insert the bolt I had to remove the whole assembly as the gap between the skin on the left and the part was too small.



- begin drilling the holes in the fuselage for the flap rod, the hole will be enlarged once the flaps are installed



- take the wings out of storage
- mark the holes that will receive screws, the holes will be hidden behind the fuselage skin which has to be drilled accordingly




- protect the engine
After all this, the weather didn't look that good so the wing mating was postponed.

Today, I also fabricated parts to install a second leading edge light. I already have one light and just used this as a jig. \r\nI won't have my HID lights until next week to see how the installation will go on these brackets.
On the picture, above is my bracket and below the Duckworks' bracket.





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I begun the day by some small work on the flaps: deburring of the hinges I drilled yesterday, riveting of some rivets that I missed during fabrication and installation of the bearing.

Today, I decided to install the trailing edge flaps. I thought this could not be done before the riveting of the lower skins, but it is easily done with the wings in the cradle. The operation is a little scary as the hinge does not leave much toom for play and it is better if the flaps are aligned with the ailerons. The method I choose has been well documented by Dan Checkoway on page 8 of this document: Flaps install. It seems a bit complicatd but is quite straightforward. First I riveted 8 small rivets to hold the skin and the flap brace once the clecos are removed. On the picture you can see the shophead of one of the rivets, behind the cleco. On the other side, the hinge will lie flat, as the rivethead is countersunk.



Then the flap is clamped on the wing, alignment and gap with the aileron are checked. I then drilled one hol out of three and installed some clecoes before drilling the other holes.



All is much easier with a helper, so Guillaume came to give a hand for the alignments and he did the drilling.



Once the drilling is finished, the small rivets get drilled out. After that the skins get lightly countersunk (manually with a deburring tool) to allow a small rivet to be inserted the other way round. On the picture, an idea of the end result once everyting gets riveted together.



Today, the work hour count reaches 500 after 11 months of work. I am very statisfied with the pace : empennage 90% complete, wings 85% complete and fuselage begun.

Today, I had a look at the wingtips, but decided against installing them now. I'll do it this spring or summer, as I still have to prime some parts of the tank, install the lights and after the inspection, rivet the lower wings and the flaps.
I then took a closer look at some fuselage parts and rearranged the storage.