Wing Cradle

Now that the leading edges are on I can't lay them flat any more, so I built the wing cradle.  I reused some huge 2x6s that were part of our old ceiling, recycled 2x4s, and the casters were in a shop drawer that was Carrie's grandpa's.  They look 50 years old.

I'm duplicating instructions from Mouser here because he abandoned his build and I want them saved for posterity.  Full credit to Mouser for these, although I think he credits them to someone else also.



When you go to the lumber store, you need:

• 2x 10' 2x6
• 3x 10' 2x4
• 1 8' 2x4
• Carpet 16"x8'
• Casters

Here's how you cut the 2x4s:






The carpet should be 16" by at least 8'.

TIP: Don't try to staple the carpet to the wood before putting the wings in.  I did and it was a little crooked and the carpet side hung too low.  I measured just 1.8 degrees of downslope, but it looks like a lot more.

Instead, staple the middle of the carpet to the middle support.  Put your wing in there, and with another person holding the outboard edge, get it level.  Then pull the carpet tight and fasten.  I should have done it that way the first time .

Wing Leading Edges

The outboard wing leading edge assemblies are done and permanantly riveted to the main wing spars.  These would have been a really simple chapter if it weren't for my "quick-build" fuel tanks.  I bought my tanks from someone who had flown them hundreds of hours.  He built 4 new ones for an extreme extended range mission.  More on that in a bit...

Here's my handy tool for marking the centerline of J-channel.  Notice the notch just big enough to rest the fine tip sharpie into.




As usual the rib deburring takes a long time.  Then things initially go together pretty quickly.
 


Now back to the splice strip.

The problem with not having the uncut tank skins is that there is a "splice strip" attached to the tank skins which you normally cut off and attach to the leading edge.  This has nutplates in it lined up perfectly so that the fuel tank can be screwed to it also.  This bonds the outboard leading edge and tanks together so they are lined up properly and rigid with respect to each other.  Vans does not make that part alone, they would have to send me a whole tank skin or have me pay for a tank skin and cut that little piece off for me.  No thanks!  Not having the splice strip meant I had to fabricate my own.

I acquired a chunk of leading edge skin from the same RV-10 flyer and cut them to the right shape.  Attached them as tight as I could to the leading edge and match-drilled.



Then I put the whole leading edge on the wing spar with a bunch of clecos.  Then put the tanks on.  Using a fine tip sharpie the tank screw holes were traced onto the splice strip.

 

Getting the drill bit perfectly in the center even with my drill press wasn't easy.  Pre-punching the hole helps.  Here is the finished splice strip half riveted on.  The tanks aren't on yet, so hopefully soon I'll know if this worked.


Primed and ready to rivet.



Riveting these was no big deal, except for the front 3 or 4 which I maybe could have done by myself but instead summonsed a helper.  On the easy ones I did get some help from my mini builders:
 

I let him sign it.  Hopefully both these guys will enjoy flying it someday.





 

Before attaching to the main spar I wanted to fill the hole used for the stall warning vane.  I'll have an AoA sensor so no need for it.  I used a glob of proseal for now, hoping that will make a good backer to put in some filler later to sand out and make smooth.
 


Riveting these on the main spars was mostly easy, especially the bottom skin.  However the top skin required help.  I've seen where people online come up with contraptions to help them do it themself, to me it wasn't worth it.  So much easier grabbing a friend for 20 minutes.  I also got help with the most inboard rib to spar rivets.  They are big AD470-4 rivets and required a double-offset set.  With two people they came out perfect.

Here is the wing mounted to a bench with the outboard end hanging WAY over so you can rivet these things on.