Wings - 17

15 hours, 308 hours total
02/09/2014 - Another productive weekend. I was able to get 15 hours in between Friday and today.

Friday I cleco'd the W-1201-1202 and 1203 panels to the top-side skeleton. Only the first five leading edge rivets are installed at this time.

 This is a good view of the main spar, ribs and cleoco'd top skin.

 After the leading edge rivets were installed, I installed the two flaperon support brackets/hinges, parts W-1216B. Some of these rivets are difficult to install because of their location near the rear spar assembly.

 Following the installation of the two flaperon hinge brackets I installed the W-1201 inboard upper wing skin. This skin alone has about 400 rivets. The white stripe is primer overspray that will be cleaned up later.

 I still need to install the wing walk doubler plate on the inboard skin.

 The right wing houses the landing light. An option I chose to install. A template is provided to mark the location of the hole that needs to be cut in the outboard panel. This took awhile and a lot of patience. I used a step drill to drill four hours in upper, lower and left, right area of the cut-out. I then used left/right aviation snips to cut out the section. If I had to do it again I would have used a thin cut dremel blade to make the cut. It turned out pretty well.

 A view from the backside.

 In addition to the cut out, lens mounting holes are located and drilled along with holes for the landing light ribs. The lens was match drilled and in this picture is cleco'd in place. You can see the wiring behind the lens.

 Pictures of the landing light ribs and lens brackets after nut-plate installation.

 Prior to removing the cleco'd lens from the landing light location, I marked the lens for trim per the instructions.

 And three hours later, the finished product. I used a dremel with a thin cut saw blade to trim the lens. I then used a dremel sander, 220 grit followed by 600 grit wet sand paper to smooth the edges. I'm happy with the finished product. Thanks Tito for the advice!

 Primed light mounting hardware as identified above

 And a final view-

And finally, the fuselage kit order has been placed with Van's. That should arrive in 8 to 10 wings. I should be ready by then!!

Wings - 16

2/01/2014 11 hours, 293 hours total
I has been while since my last post, but I am making some good progress. I was able to spend a good portion of Friday out in the garage, and 4 hours today. This is work on the right wing. I installed wing panels W1201, W1203 and W1202 in that order. This included deburring, sanding the edges and corners of each of the panels and then priming. Once that was complete I cleco'd each of the panels, final drilled the holes and then deburred each of the holes. Finally, the panels were riveted to the wing skeleton. I wing is ready to flip so flaperon hindges can be installed along with the three top panels.

View of the bottom side of the right wing- rivets all installed. Blue protective covering still in place to minimize scratches.

 These pictures illustrate how crowded the garage is becoming. On the upper left of the picture you can see the tail section covered up for protection. Upper right is the vetical stabilizer. Below that is the left wing in the wing cradle. And behind the left wing is the stabilator which is not visible. And of course, the right wing sitting on the work benches.

 There is some room to move around, not bad.

 As soon as the wings are complete, all subassemblies will be moved into storage. One of the EAA chapter members has volunteered some space in his hanger.

Drum roll- as soon as I fimish this post I'm going to order the Fuselage kit. That will take 8 - 10 weeks to arrive. Considering the progress I made over the past couple of days, maybe I should have ordered sooner. I still have to finish installing the upper wing panels; install the wing tip close-out; Install the wing tip position lights; install the landing light; and finally build the flaperons. Seems like a lot of work, maybe my timing is correct!!

Wings - 15

12/31/2013 13 hours - 282 hours total - Did about as much as I'm going to do to the left wing at this point. Everything is done with the exception of sealing the position light fairing and building and installing the flaperons, I need to clear some space in the garage in order to work. Built a wing stand today so this should help.

First, I drilled out five rivets to place the narrow close out under the wider skin. I had messed that up.

 Finished installing the rivets for the flaperon hinge bracket.

Flox/Expoxied the postion light fairing.

 Installed the wing close out nut plates and associated cover.Not thrilled now this turned out- Wing panel is indentied in this area....ever so slightly- disappears when cover is removed.

 Added a little flox/Epoxy to these to mounting holes. The edge distance was a concern to me.

Finally, today I completed a wing stand for both of the wings. Soon as I get a second set of hands I'll load the left wing onto the sling to clear off the work bench so I can get started on the flaperons.

12/19/2013 12 hours - 269 hours total - I'm 48 weeks into the project. I'd hoped to average 8 hours per week to stay on my self imposed schedule. It looks like I'm averaging about 5.6 hours per week- not to bad considering I'm still working and have other obligations....January 6th will mark the first year anniversary of the project.

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. I have been making progress - just not a lot to report. In this segment I complete the wing tip close-out and get ready to install the wing tip position light and strobe.

Okay, the first thing I did was fit up all the wing tip skins. In this picture you are looking at the forward wing tip after forming up the forward wing tip rib. You're looking at the forward upper skin ans wing tip rib after fluting to form the tip rib shape. I don't care for the exposed cut outs- you can see six in this picture. This is typical of what I've seen on other RV-12's.

 In this photo you're looking at the forward and aft wing tip ribs cleoco'd in position.

 This is bottom center outboard, wing close out panel. I took this picture because I was surprised by the gap. It is in a perfect location to allow moisture to drain out, just a little surprising. The close out panel has about 30 tabs that all need to be nebt to a particular angle. You can see the shape and angles of the lower side wing and the need to bend the tabs for a correct rivet joint.

After final drilling all the holes I removed all wing tip subassemblies and primed the interior sides. I then reassembled and riveted all the pieces in place. I also prepped the wing-tip strobe and position light fairing. These items are options in the RV-12 kit package.That piece is cleocoed in place. 

 In this view you can see the wing-tip and strobe fairing in place. You also get a good view of the wing close-out panel and wing-tip handle. The wings of the RV-12 are designed to easily remove the wings for transport to and from the airport, hense the handle. I'll have someone help flip the wing so it's resting on the top side. Per instructions I need to apply flox/epoxy to the section of the fairing that contacts the forward tip rib. I'll also need to apply fuel tank sealant to the fairing where it mates to the close out panel. I ordered all these supplies from Aircraft Spruce. The packages arrived today.

 One more view of the close out panel near the trailing edge.

 Nearly a complete left wing. I'm going to assemble both left and right flaperons before beginning work on skinning the right wing. After the flaperons I'll build a carrier for the wings for 'easy' transport/movement. I'm thinking probably first of the year I'll order the fuselage kit.

Wings - 14

November 30, 2013 15 hours - 257 hours total
It's been a busy month and you can see from the hours posting I've been busy assembling the left wing. I'm getting close to finishing this wing. I'd say 15 or 20 more hours. I have the wing tip and position light to install.

View of flaperon bracket installation prior to installing top wing panels.

Example of the wing skeleton, typical, prior to wing panel closure. I choose to primer only the contact surfaces of the interior wing. I did remember to remove the FOD.

Example of the priming method. This happens to be the lower mid-skin. You can see the access panel near the stall warning device.

 View prior to installation of the lower mid-section wing panel. Note primer on contact surfaces.

Interior side of upper wing panels are right for priming.

Inboard wing-walk panel primed and ready to install.

Top panels are cleco'd in place and ready to rivet. Inboard wing section primed  at location where wing walk panel is installed

Just a few Cleco's holding the panel in place.

With the exception of a few rivets I forgot to install, all panels are riveted in place. Must be 1200 closely placed rivets.

 View from the wing-tip. About seven pieces make up the wing tip assembly.

Wings - 13

11/10/2013 - 5 hours, 242 hours total. I was able to put some time in on Friday and Sunday. All of the riveting for the bottom-side left wing is complete. I'll need to enlist some help to flip the wing over to continue the build.

Primed the lower middle left wing panel. As you can see, I'm only priming the contact areas of the wing.

 Picture of the wing assembly, mid-section, just prior to installing the above panel.

Also, primed the outer edge of the inboard and outboard panel where the middle panel mates.

Ready to flip and start working on the top-side

11/03/2013 - One year ago today, I placed the first kit order for the tail-kit.

8 hours, 237 hours total. Work began in earnest to begin installing the wing panels. Before I started that I replaced the two wire connectors damaged in the previous post. I then spread out a little so I could access the left wing. The wing in the foreground is now in the covered back patio. House rules- wife's car needs to fit in the garage.

 This is a view of the inboard, left wing, bottom side. There are approximately 450 rivet locations in this panel alone. I final drilled all the holes, deburred the holes, and then primed the interior side of the panel. I did the same with the outboard panel. The center panel is ready for final drill.

 Outboard review

 Bottom side access panel near the stall warning device.

 View inboard with new connector installed.

Riveting comes next......I'll rivet the inner panel, then final drill the center panel and debur, and then complete all bottom side riveting. Could be a couple of weeks before I get that done. We have visitors next weekend- good friends, and then a trip to check in on mom the following weekend.