So here I sit the night before Dad and I fly out for Oshkosh 2013. I am very excited about what is going to go on for the next several days but before I go I thought I would publish the weekends work that occurred. First, I had lots of help this weekend. Alex Miller came over early Saturday morning (ok, it was 9 am but that's early for most kids) and helped me rivet the outboard half of the left top wing skin. Then Dad showed up about noon and he ended up helping me finish off the left top wing skin J-Stringer. Finally Mariah helped me rivet the right inboard top wing skin on Sunday. And last but not least Dad and I was able to build the rolling wing stand so that I can get the wings off of the build stand and get that much of my garage/hangar back.
One last item to mention, I lost my tungsten bucking bar some time last week. Dad and I tore the garage apart looking for that little bugger and couldn't find it. Well I got to thinking about the last place I had used it and a very bad picture started to form in my head... I had last used it in the right wing while riveting those VERY HARD TO GET TO rib rivets...you know, the ones that are buried deep in the leading edge of the right wing....the ones that are not accessible without removing the fuel tank that I have bolted down. Yea, those ribs. Well, rather than panic we got out my trusty inspection camera and snaked it down the lightening holes too look into that last leading edge bay. Guess what we saw sitting in the unreachable bay? Yep, the bucking bar. So Dad went to town pulling bolts from the fuel tank and we managed to retrieve the bucking bar. Can you image how much damage that little sucker would have caused when I turned the wing on its side for the first time?
Not much for pictures but here you go. Oh, I don't have a picture of the wing stand but you should see plenty of pictures of that once I get the wings set in it for storage.
 |
| Its very hard to see where the wing starts and the cement ends but here is a shot of the finished left wing top. |
 |
| Here is the right wing inboard top skin nicely riveted together. Yes this is the one that has no bolts in it because we had to remove them to pull it. See narrative above for gruesome details. |
 |
| And this is a shot of both of them looking forward (as I imagine it) |
