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Wings #15 (Right wing skinning)

Posted by on February 25, 2014

Total build time: 450 hours.

The skinning of the right wing went much like the left with one small difference. My right wing spar had a slight bow in it, which is a common occurance for Sonex spars and the bow is generally taken out during the skinning process. When fitting the forward skin though I did notice a tightness near the wing tip that made it more difficult to pull it into position in the middle of the wing. Basically the wing root/tip were very slightly more forward than the middle, which I presume was the last remnants of the bow in the spar. I did end up getting everything in position and drilled eventually. There is no visible bow, just a very slight tolerance/tightness difference in the fit of the skin. I don’t have any photos of this unfortunately, not that they would show much anyway.

 

Waiex-1055

Waiex-1056

Waiex-1057

Waiex-1058

Waiex-1059

Waiex-1060

 

This time around I did photograph the fitting of the fiberglass wingtip. I used a vibration tool to make the needed cuts to clear the main and rear spars and the 12th wing rib.

 

Waiex-1061

Waiex-1062

Waiex-1063

Waiex-1064

Waiex-1065

Waiex-1066

Waiex-1067

Waiex-1068

Waiex-1069

Waiex-1070

 

The right wingtip came out even better than the left, with a great fit with the leading edge. I’m not sure I’ll even need any filler on this side.

I also cut the hole for the tie-down bolt in the aft lower skin.

 

Waiex-1072

 

Waiex-1073

 

Waiex-1074

 

On my left wing I ended up with a very slight dent in the upper skin due to an error while flipping the wing over (insufficient padding). This time I prevented that error, but managed to catch a cleco during the flip and smiley-faced a hole.  I was not smiley-faced.

 

Waiex-1076

 

I practiced some methods to pound out the dimple.

 

Waiex-1081

Waiex-1083

 

That worked pretty well! Time to try it on the real thing:

 

Waiex-1085 Waiex-1086

 

It worked pretty well and removed most of the dimple. Still a blemish, but it’s on the lower wing skin and I’m probably the only one who will notice it. The hole itself is fine for a rivet.

 

 

 

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