More left wing riveting: 8.3 hours

After I corrected the rib flange I was able to do a fair amount of riveting along the top edge of the wing where I could reach the inside of the wing and the top of the skin. The results were as good as the back riveting method but much more controllable and consistent.

I decided that the conventional riveting was worth a try on the wing skins. I talked to Britt about it and we did a few practice rivets with her holding the tungsten bucking bar on the inside and checking the rivets. This went well so we went to work on the wing.

After using this method Britt and I both have decided that it's the way to go. Even though we started out slow we picked up speed and were able to finish all the two person riveting on the left wing. Britt did a great job on all of her rivets.

 

Only a little riveting left for the top skins!

 

 

 

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Ailerons and left wing riveting: 12 hours

The weather was terrible today so I spent the day working on the plane.

I finished back riveting the stiffeners to the left aileron skin so now it's ready to be bent to final shape.

I also got the 16 right aileron stiffeners cut out, edge finished and match drilled to the skin. I also deburred then scuffed the stiffeners and the skin. The skin also got the edges finished.

The rest of the time was spent working on the left wing. Britt and I spent about 2.5 hours riveting and made good progress. Unfortunately I was drilling out a bad rivet and damaged a wing rib flange. The good news is that it's repairable, the bad news is that it will probably be about 5-6 hours worth of work.

 

Rivets taped in place for back riveting:

Riveting progress!

 

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Left aileron and wing riveting: 8.2 hours

Started out by dimpling, cleaning and priming the left aileron stiffeners and skin. (Also primed the tailwheel fork.)

I made some supports for the rear wing spar to help steady the wing during riveting.

I got half of the stiffeners back riveted onto the aileron skin.

Britt and I spent about 1.7 hours riveting the inboard top skin for the left wing. The long offset rivet set is still tricky but I'm getting more comfortable with it.

 

Back riveting left aileron stiffeners:

 

Good results!

 

 

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Started riveting top skin on left wing: 2 hours

Britt and I riveted the skin to two of the ribs and the spar in between the ribs. Britt bucked the rivets from outside of the wing and I used the rivet gun with the long offset back rivet set on the inside of the wing.

It went well. There were two rivets that we reworked and the end result was very good.

*Note: When there are two of us working on the airplane I sum the hours that both people worked. So in this case we were only down there an hour total but there were two of us.

 

Looks Great!

 

Rivet gun with 12" offset back rivet set:

 

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Started on left aileron: 2.1 hours

I got all the stiffeners for the left aileron cut out and smoothed. I was also able to match drill them all to the elevator skin.

 

Match drilling a stiffener:

 

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Riveted bottom of leading edge: 2.2 hours

I got the outboard top skin in place for riveting then removed the bottom skins. Then I riveted the bottom of the leading edge using the squeezer. This went quickly aside from some tricky rivets near the access panels. However all rivets turned out good on the first pass.

We are now ready to start riveting the top skins on.

 

Top skins ready to rivet.

 

Leading edge riveting complete.

 

 

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Rivet practice and top skin prep: 5.2 hours

Britt and I had a practice session using the long offset back rivet set and the 3lb bucking bar we will use on the top skins of the wing. I made some practice pieces to rivet together and it went well. Britt is on the exterior side with the bucking bar and I'm using the rivet gun on the inside of the wing.

The rest of the time I spent match drilling the flap brace and aileron gap seal. Then I did all the prep work (edge finish, deburr, dimple, scuff, clean and prime) on the left outboard top skin.

Now we are almost ready to rivet the top skins.

 

Dimpling outboard skin (nice day to work inside - rain).

 

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Inboard top skin prep: 4.2 hours

I was able to get the top inboard skin and the wing for the left wing all ready to rivet. This included: deburring all the rivet holes, finishing the edges, making a cutout where the inboard and outboard skins overlap, cleaning everything and priming.

Next the outboard top skin will get the same treatment. Then I will be able to rivet the rest of the leading edge. Then Britt and I can start riveting the top skins on!

 

Prepping the inboard top skin:

 

 

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Riveted leading edge to spar: 5.5 hours

I got the leading edge nose ribs riveted to the main spar and then riveted the top skin of the leading edge to the main spar. It's fun to see the bigger pieces being permanently attached. Once I prep the top skins I will put them in place, remove the bottom skins and rivet the bottom of the leading edge unit to the main spar.

I also spent some time working on the flap brace and prepping the wing walk doubler.

 

Left leading edge in progress:

 

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Riveted ribs to rear spar: 3.8 hours

Riveted all the ribs for the left wing to the rear spar using the squeezer and longeron yoke. Definitely easier than using the rivet gun.

 

No more clecos here!

 

I did have a little help:

 

 

 

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Riveted ribs to main spar: 8.2 hours

While reassembling the wing skeleton I noticed that I had gouged 3 rivet heads in the rear spar while match drilling the skins. So I had to spend over an hour removing the gouged rivets and reinstalling them. The process of taking those rivets out gives me a lot of confidence in their strength. These were some of the long 1/8" rivets and they were very difficult to remove.

After that I re-reassembled the wing skeleton and riveted all the aft ribs to the main spar.

 

It looks better without all the clecos!

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Finished wing skeleton prep: 5.5 hours

Finished the wing spar counter sinks.

Cleaned and primed all the ribs. Now ready to rivet.

 

I knew that big kitchen sink would come in handy:

 

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More left wing structure prep: 6 hours

Removed the ribs from the spar, deburred and dimpled them. Then I started countersinking the main spar for the skin rivets. There are a huge number of countersinks on the spar. I haven't counted the but I read there are about 300 per wing.

I was able to do a little more than half of the spar countersinks.

Britt also helped me by deburring the inside of the spar for the skin rivets.

 

Starting the skin rivet countersinks:

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