Tonight’s session also saw the passing of the 500-hour mark on the build.  It doesn’t seem like that much time, but I have been working on the project for over two years (I started in earnest in May, 2007).  This means I’m somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the way done, based on hours.  So, 4-6 more years?

After riveting the top skin on, the flap is flipped topside-down on the table and weighted in place, then the bottom skin riveted to the spar & nose skin.  This is a tight operation, squeezing inside the flap with the weights/clamps/boards in the way.  Finished it up without a problem though, then the whole thing is weighted flat to the table, and the bottom skin-rib rivets inserted.  These are blind rivets everywhere but the outboard end rib, which can be squeezed.  I also used blind rivets at the most aft location in the top skins, same as on the elevators & rudder…those ribs are so narrow at the aft end that it’s nearly impossible to buck anything in there, and certainly not with any of the bars I have.

Once the skins are in place, the weights are put back in place for the trailing edge riveting, which I’m doing using the same squeezing process I’ve used on all the other control surfaces.  I had to leave for work before finishing up this flap, but it’s nearly done.

The first task is assembling the flap brackets/nose rib assemblies.  I clecoed the brackets and spacer blocks together for each bracket, then ran a Q-tip dipped in primer around the inside of the lightening holes to coat them better, as that spot is difficult to get good coverage on by shooting, at least to a painting amateur like myself.  Then added the nose ribs, which form the outside of the assemblies, and riveted them together.

Clecoed and riveted the bracket assemblies to the spars.  The first one took some head-scratching to figure out the best way to get at all the different rivets.  Combination of the longeron yoke and standard yoke, with various set configurations, got most of the rivets; the only ones needing to be shot were the three in the “elbow” of the heavy angle on the inboard end of each flap.  The second spar went much faster, since the figuring was already figured.  After the brackets were in place, the main ribs were added to the spars, and those rivets are easy to get at with the longeron yoke.

Continuing on with the right flap, I clecoed on the top skin, followed by the nose skins.  Weighted to the table, I drilled the nose rib holes to 7/64″ for the blind rivets, then installed all the skin-nose rib rivets.  The right flap is ready for top skin riveting.

Countersunk the spars and TE wedges, then dimpled all the skins & ribs, followed by several hours swimming in etch.  These flaps have a great lot of parts.  Ready for priming, but not enough time before sunset to get it done, and past experience priming in the dark wasn’t a pleasant experience.

Still hoping to wrap the wings (with the exception of bottom skins and tips) before school starts in earnest after Labor Day…which may or may not actually be possible.