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Any gotchas on skipping ahead and building ailerons and flaps?

CubedRoot

Well Known Member
I'm at the point in the wing build that I am needing to mount them on the stand and then start the fuel tanks. But I was wondering if there were any issues if I skipped ahead and started building the aileron's and flaps. It's a little too cold.in the shop to deal with proseal and not having the wing stands up right now would give me a lot of extra work room.

It would be nice if I could just do the control surfaces while it's cooler and then tuck them in the rafters with my empennage while I put the wings in the stands and finish in warmer weather. A quick glance doesn't seem to be any issues but I figured I'd ask the experts :)
 
I don't see any problem. Also, glad to see you back at it Lynn! Also, doing it this way will get you mentally prepared for them tanks! :D They took me 130 hours. Just as a tip, if you are going with a flop tube install an anti-rotation bracket even though the plans don't call out one: ask me how I know...
 
Thanks guys! I'll probably start on my flaps tomorrow. They look pretty easy-peasy to do :)

Yeah Jereme, finally getting back at it. Ended up taking about 4 months off without doing any serious work on the wings. Was traveling A LOT for work....like every week for 4 months straight, only being home Fri and Sat.

I am not looking forward to the tanks. Well I guess its really just the pro-sealing part I am not looking forward to. Everything else seems like it would be fun. I realized that ProSeal tends to get EVERYWHERE when I was using it on my rudder. I'll be sure to add a anti-rotation bracket, since I am doing a flop tube in the left tank.

I'm also a glutton for punishment since I am installing both capacitive senders as well as the normal float senders. Figure I might as well get them in there while the tanks are being built.
 
Thanks guys! I'll probably start on my flaps tomorrow. They look pretty easy-peasy to do :)

Yeah Jereme, finally getting back at it. Ended up taking about 4 months off without doing any serious work on the wings. Was traveling A LOT for work....like every week for 4 months straight, only being home Fri and Sat.

I am not looking forward to the tanks. Well I guess its really just the pro-sealing part I am not looking forward to. Everything else seems like it would be fun. I realized that ProSeal tends to get EVERYWHERE when I was using it on my rudder. I'll be sure to add a anti-rotation bracket, since I am doing a flop tube in the left tank.

I'm also a glutton for punishment since I am installing both capacitive senders as well as the normal float senders. Figure I might as well get them in there while the tanks are being built.


It sounds like you are in the same boat I was in with the dread of taking on the tanks. Turns out, they weren't nearly have as bad as I had worked myself up for. Tons of rubber gloves and popcicle sticks. Halfway through the first tank I decided that filling syringers, zip lock bags, etc to extrude sealant was not worth it. I ended up finding a used semco gun for $40 on ebay. BEST decision ever!!! We you get around to the tanks, let me know and you're more than welcome to borrow it.
 
Tanks

It's all in the attitude. Tanks were fun. I even built mine with a leg boot on after a broken leg. Kept my mind off my leg. Go at your comfortable pace. Find a method that works for you. I used popsicle sticks and large syringes with the fay method.
The only thing I did, very few others before, is I bought a box of 4-40 nuts and drilled them all out #40. They were used on the inside on clekos to generate more holding pressure.
 
It sounds like you are in the same boat I was in with the dread of taking on the tanks. Turns out, they weren't nearly have as bad as I had worked myself up for. Tons of rubber gloves and popcicle sticks. Halfway through the first tank I decided that filling syringers, zip lock bags, etc to extrude sealant was not worth it. I ended up finding a used semco gun for $40 on ebay. BEST decision ever!!! We you get around to the tanks, let me know and you're more than welcome to borrow it.

The rubber gloves is no joke! I used 300 of them, thank goodness for amazon. :D
 
Tank tip

Here's a tip.
When you finish the tanks and the baffle and z-brackets are riveted, allow the tank to set for a couple days then...
1. Lay wax paper on the wing spar and caps.
2. Install the tank with maybe 1/2 the bolts and screws.
3. Leave it overnight.
4. Remove and finish the cure somewhere warm.
This allows the proseal fillet on the baffle to conform to the wing spar cap so it won't interfere later.
 
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