Engine Mounting

The engine is mounted! I recruited some help; specifically my friend Rob, my son Luka and his friends Caleb and David. They were off to a high school football game so their friends Siri, Kayla, and Elly were over to eat first and car pool. I had more help than I needed, at least I thought so.

Four of us guys lifted the engine while one helped line it up and insert bolts. It took a few tries though. The rubber grommets/bushings fit real tight and they were hard to get into place. Then we realized that the bolts would only fit while the engine was off the mount.

While pushing the engine in place, the plane kept rolling backwards. Thankfully the girls where there. They got behind the main spar and held the plane in place. Everyone played a part and it was fortunate that they were all there.

I swelled with a sence of accomplishment finally seeing the engine on the fuselage. Special thanks goes out to my team of high spirited helpers. Thanks!

Engine Mounted

With the engine mounted I can start to figure out where all the remaining controls, wires, cables, etc. need to go.

Rear Spar

While waiting on my engine helpers, I worked on some wing parts for a couple days. The rear spar is now assembled. Getting the subtle angled on the ends (not really visible here) was the only real tricky part.

Rear Spar

Wing Ribs

What you see in the picture below is all the wing ribs for the inboard spar, and a couple for the outboard. There’s more ribs, but all these were the same part number so I figured I’d work on them together.

Boy was it tedious. Mind-numbing. 16 nearly identical sets of parts each needing, clecoing, updrilling, de-burring, filing, scotchbriting, cleaning, and finally riveting. What a relief when those were done…

Wing Ribs

All the wing parts are set aside for the time being. I’ll start attaching them when I’m pretty much done working inside the fuselage so the wings don’t get in the way.