Big day Saturday - got the wings fitted for the first time! Special thanks to my mom and dad for helping me out this weekend, and my wonderful angel of a girlfriend Amy for putting up with this crazy hobby of mine!
It's finally starting to sink in with my neighbors - I really *AM* building a freaking airplane in my garage!
My mom and dad came up for a weekend visit at my place, and my dad and I used nearly all day Saturday getting the wings fitted for the critical rear spar attach points, and the front fuel tank attach points.
First thing was to temp-fit the gear legs and pad the axle well, so the fuse can stand on it's own, and support the tail with a crate. That's my dad starting the process of leveling the fuse.
After actually inserting the wings and getting the bolts in place, we hung redneck plumb-bobs (bricks/string) from the wings to line up the leading edge in a straight line.
The strings were blowing in the wind a bit, but they ended up being within a strings-width of dead straight after some adjustment.
Measuring and setting the angle of incidence on the wing with the fuse leveled...
The leading edges are straight, the wingtip-to-tail measurements are within 1/32", the angle of incidence is dead on and all measurements are triple-checked, and finally the all-critical rear spar holes are drilled.
Front fuel tank attach points are fabbed and match-drilled.
Happy-Happy-Joy-Joy!
Dad checking and rechecking, just to make sure. Too late now - the holes are drilled!
N16GN's first RV Grin - dad had to crawl inside the fuse to get the bottom bolts out of the right wing for disassembly.