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Tue 07 December 2004

I continued first thing with the wing tank attach brackets. No problems, just careful drilling.
Then we moved onto the rear wing spar.

The project has a number (half a dozen ish) of major milestones / events, things like Rudder trailing edge, Wing spar drilling, Canopy cut, Engine mounting, Engine first start, First flight.

Well today was number two on that list - Wing spar drilling.

As we have already had the wing on we knew where we wanted the hole to go and the edge distances needed to be. Therefore we (carefully) marked out the fuselage tongue and I center drilled it.


Then using a long #30 drill I made a pilot hole through the rear plate.
Next it was the usual fun and games mounting the wings. This is when having two people working on the project makes life SO much simpler.
After using shop bolts for the initial alignment a pair of 'sacrificial' close tolerance bolts were put in on both sides to lock the main spar position.
Then it is lots of measuring, adjusting and tweaking the two wings to get the sweep and incidence just right.

They sweep is setup via the plumb bob and reference line between the inboard and out board ends of both wings. The should all be in a single line.


The wings should be for/aft the same amount both sides. We did this from the out most rivet on the main spar to a central line just under where the vertical stabiliser attaches.
Then the incidence is checked with a block and 'spirit level'. This is when the use of the smart level is fantastic. It is calibrated in .1 of a degree. Out of the box both the QB wings are within .1 inboard to out bound and they were about .1 (LHS) and .2 (RHS) for the right incidence angle. Incredible how all the CNC punched parts / QB components (from two different countries) come together that accurately.
After multiple checks and re-checks it is then the big drill. Starting with a #30 and working up to a 5/16" hole. Space is quite limited which makes it harder and again two people helps with the alignment of the hole.
Once both of the rear spars were done, I started looking at the front fuel attach bracket. Looks OK although we won't need much of a bend in the bracket. I need to revisit tomorrow.
So there we go - wings drilled and mounted on the airframe. Big day psychologically but relatively simple, just take our time and work slowly through the information. I'm sure we are being over cautious at times but to honest - I don't care that much, we are never going to be the 'fastest to complete'. I would rather understand and do it slowly than run at this point and make mistakes.

"Wings on" is a pre-requisite for several other things so hopefully I can start focusing on and make progress on some of these now whilst Dad is going to continue with the gear weldments.


Carl Morgan