Zach, my rivetting buddy, is getting real good at bucking these rivets. We are rivetting the bottom skins on the wing. Zach is holding a bucking bar on his side of the wing and I am pounding the rivet with the rivet gun on the other side. Only 5000 more rivets to go...on this wing.

This is the right aileron. These orange straps make it easier to get the skins to fit properly. There is no servo tab on this side.

I have constructed the servo tab...which looks likea mini-aileron...and put it temporarily in place. One of the great things about this project is figuring out how all this stuff works. I havn't yet figured out how this works...but I will.

I have inserted a small spar between the layers of aluminum and attached a hinge.

For the left aileron, a servo tab is needed. Here, I have cut out a section of the aileron.

Now the bottom side of the aileron has been drilled...now it's time to repeat the process on the top side. It takes a lot of side grip clamps to get everything to fit just right.

Ed Carter...ace mechanic...stops by to offer advice, wisdom, and a lot of ribbing.

I have positioned the skin of the left aileron...the pre-punched holes in the skin have to be lined up with centerlines which I have drawn on all of the spars and ribs...once everything is lined up, holes are drilled and clecos placed to line everything up.

Here, I have mounted a sturdy hinge bracket between the ribs. Another hinge bracket is shown above before it is mounted.

Some of the nose ribs are doubled where they will attach to the hinges. The double nose rib at the outboard end of this aileron will hold a lead counterweight.

There are nose ribs on the ailerons.

While I am waiting for the compressor to be repaired, I'll start on the ailerons. These ribs are attached to a spar. (Temp is in the 90's...I can't keep that glass full).

Here is a look at these flush head rivets after they have been set. Now I'm ready to rivet the lower skins on the assembly and then the wing will be done...for now. I will put it aside (for a year or so) and bring it back out again when they will be mounted to the fuselage. Then the fuel tanks are installed, and the plumbing and wiring is done...BUT, my compressor just sprung a leak so I am going to have to wait to finish the wing until I get it repaired.

Now it's time to rivet the leading edge assembly to the forward spar. I am using a rivet squeezer which is nice when you can use it because you don't need two people to set the rivets. It takes a pretty hefty squeeze to make it work. My tendons were screaming by the time I finished all of these rivets.

The flap track bracket reinforcement angles attach through the skin to the spar.

Notice the string attached to the tip of the track. It is holding it straight while I secure it to the top skin and to the flap track brackets.

I am obsessing about getting the two flap tracks straight...and parallel to each other. Otherwise the flaps may bind in the track. My laser level has the bracket in the crosshairs. The spar is straight and level so this should work.

The angle is attached to the bottom flange of the aft spar...and to the flap track. I am spending a fair amount of time with my laser level to make sure that the spar is exactly horizontal...and that the flap tracks are perfectly vertical.

This is a closer look at one of these angles.

The 2 flap tracks have to be stable and strictly parallel to each other so that when the flap moves in the flap track, it doesn't bind. To help fix it into place, small flap track reinforcement angles are attached. The clecos in this picture hold these angles prior to drilling.

The ribs inside the leading edge assemblies are rivetted to the forward spar. Then the skins are rivetted to the spar.

And the stringers (the horizontal channels)

The 'hat sections' go back in.

Now the assembly is attached to the wing structure...for the last time. Wow...this is really beginning to look like an airplane wing.

I have taken the leading edge assemblies and clecoed them together.

All of the ribs are now rivetted into place. They have come in and out so many times...it's kind of exciting to put them in for the last time.

This is a view from the outside. Once the holes were originally drilled, I then had to countersink the holes so that I could use these flush head rivets. The leading edge is the first thing to bite the air and it is important to have smooth air flowing over the wings...regular rivets would protrude above the skin and cause a little bit of turbulance over the wing. If you saw "The Aviator" (great movie), you remember what a big deal Howard Hughes made about flush rivets and smooth skins....I'm talking about airplanes here. Same idea. Some guys use flush rivets for all of the wing skins. That takes a lot of extra time...don't think I'm gonna do it.

Here is a closer view of a leading edge rib which has been rivetted inside the skin.

These are the three leading edge assemblies. You may recall that earlier the ribs were temporarily installed on the front of the wing structure and then the skins were fitted over them. Everything was drilled and then cleaned and corrosion proof. Now the ribs are rivetted inside the leading edge skins.