Wing Work

Wings Attached

Attaching the wings required some special tools; reamers. These are like drill bits that make very precise sized holes. I had ordered them from Amazon but one was the wrong size. Fortunately Denny Myrick had them from his build and let me borrow it.

There are basically two bolts that hold the wing on. A fat AN6 bolt on which the wings pivot on the upper spar, and a similarly fat pin that slides in a hole on the bottom. The pin is attached to a lever to lock and release the wing. The lever also controls a long pin that locks the rear spar in place.

Wing Locks

These were a purchase from AirWard. They required a bit of modification but perform a sturdy job of holding the wings up. They cleverly make use of the holes and pins of the locking system

Flaps

Before putting on the wing skins, I decided to install as much flaps and aileron controls as possible before they become entombed.

I clumsily cut one of the flaps upside down and ruined the part. Doh! Another is on order from Sonex. The left flap is complete and feels pretty solid. The flaps will attach to the inboard wing sections and are a little over 2’ long.

Ailerons

The ailerons go along the complete outboard section and are nearly 6’ long! Being so long, they require significantly more work…. lot of holes to drill, debur, etc… They’re still under construction.

Of note, they include a counterweight. For this Sonex provided a ~20lb solid ingot of lead that needed to be cut. You can see the smaller ingots bolted to the arms below. For months I feared the wear and destruction this ingot of lead would put on my tools. Alas, lead is like butter when it comes to sawing and drilling. Fascinating! It’s massive rock-like appearance betrays it’s gentle workability. In fairness, I’d assumed it was steel until I learned it was lead today. Oh, lead does like to cease up on drill bits. Using lots of oil is the lesson of the day.

Now I have roughly 10lbs of smaller lead ingots left over. I wonder what those could be used for.