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Covering left wing... 12/07/03 - In three sessions today, I processed the rib rivets top and bottom for the left wing. Starting out with the topside in the photo below, I have applied transparent double-sided tape to the ribs:
Applying the lexan strips to the double-sided tape (you can see them falling past the trailing edge in the foreground):
In the following photo, I am putting the pencil-tipped butane torch to the strips to open the rivet holes (thanks to my wife, Marilyn for the photo):
After opening the holes and cleaning up the 'collars' with a single-edge blade, I am inserting the rivets for pulling:
Topside rivets pulled:
Bottom side lexan strips in place before final trim:
After opening rivet holes and trimming, all bottom side rivets inserted for pulling:
At this point, I knocked off and Marilyn and I drove over to EHR so she could take a look at the Coyote's FUTURE HOME...
It'll fit with plenty of room left over for the inevitable hangar necessities! ;^) After a nice meal at the Tumbleweed in Henderson, KY we returned home and I started pulling the rest of the rivets on the bottom side of the wing. You notice, I said STARTED PULLING...well, just yesterday I was bragging about how well the $39 rivet puller from Harbor Freight had worked so far and then it crapped out... I removed the nose-piece and found the set-nut (controls the tension on the shank prior to pulling) had backed off, so I re-adjusted this piece, re-assembled and finished the job. It sure is nice when the puller grabs, sets and cuts all with one swipe of the trigger! Here's the final shot from my weekend of work:
To complete the fabric work on this wing, I estimate another 12-14 hours of work remain. Next trip out, I will mark the ribs for tapes, apply an initial bed of adhesive, cut and apply the rib tapes top and bottom, then begin checking tape edges for loosies. That should leave the edge tapes, final adhesive application on inspection and exit areas, leading and trailing edges and a final-final check of all tape edges. I just realized this coming Thursday will be the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of my first day in the shop on this project! Woo Hoo!!! It looks like I'll have nearly four hundred hours total at that point, meaning I will have worked approximately the equivalent of ONE DAY (8 hours) a week so far on the Coyote project since beginning last December 11. That is just slightly less than my initial intended goal of around 10 hours per week, although it SEEMS like much more, because when I'm not working on it, I'm usually thinking about it! ;^) As I've come to understand recently, I have enjoyed the fabric process the most to date, but the entire project has been both an enjoyable and enlightening experience. If you haven't done this yet and have the desire, resources and time, you MUST give it a try! More updates soon... |
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Last Update: 12/07/2003 |
