Thursday, December 5, 2013

15-06, R wing main ribs

Many days of little bits of progress, but I finally got the main ribs on the R wing spar.

 The first thing I did for the ribs was pull all of the blue plastic off.  Took 45 min to strip 28 ribs.  I remember reading that heat helps the adhesive to peel off, but my garage was pretty cold.  I use this propane ‘torpedo’ heater to warm things up.  I discovered that holding the blue rib in front of the blast from the torpedo would warm it up in about 5 seconds and greatly facilitated removing the snake skins.  You can see the pile I created in the process.

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Here’s a pretty typical shot, the main ribs are clecoed in place and I am verifying that things align well before proceeding with rivets.

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Another view of the clecoed ribs.  IMG 2791

 

 

OK, take a close look at the rivet on the vertical surface in this before & after pair.  Do you see the slight gap in the 1st photo?  The reason I took those pictures is because I noted that I hadn’t gotten a good, firm seat of the rivet before pulling the trigger, so it was “loose.”  I simply noted it, put down the rivet gun and reached for my #52 drill to drill it out before I realized that this was just a matter of fact and not one that got me all worked up about having to remove a rivet.  OK, enough of demonstrating that I’m growing up. :)

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Main ribs in place, with rear spar attached. 

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Another of my ‘favorite view’ shots.IMG 2795

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