Fairly short update, even if it was a lot of work. After prepping the wing and tops skins, started to rivet everything together. Started working with my wife using my new extended back rivet set. This left the skin looking great, but I kept having some rivets with smeared shop heads.
I even went and purchased a double-offset backrivet set, however I was even having some issues with that. I gave it a good try and it seemed to be somewhat working, but in the end I decided that just having my buddy and wife use the rivet gun and I control the bucking bar was much faster and easier to control. (Even if it did mark up the skins a little).
After each rivet session, I would go back the next day and re-check all the rivets with a fresh set of eyes. I would always find some marginal rivets that needed another hit with the bucking bar, or possibly a few that just needed to be drilled out. No biggie and better to do it now rather than when the wings are on the airplane! (Blue tape marks where I need to touch something up) [inpost_fancy thumb_width=”200″ thumb_height=”200″ post_id=”803″ thumb_margin_left=”0″ thumb_margin_bottom=”0″ thumb_border_radius=”2″ thumb_shadow=”0 1px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2)” id=”” random=”0″ group=”0″ border=”” show_in_popup=”0″ album_cover=”” album_cover_width=”200″ album_cover_height=”200″ popup_width=”800″ popup_max_height=”600″ popup_title=”Gallery” type=”fancy”][/inpost_fancy]
Once all the rivets were in, I then riveted on the nutplates at the wing root, followed by the aileron bracket at the wing tip. Then with a little help from the wife I moved the wing back to the cradle. I’ll need to finish up the leading edge light lens for the left wing, then get some assistance to rivet the leading edges to the wings to make sure I have room for the fuse arrival.