- Chapter 13 complete
This consisted of LOTS and LOTS of countersinking. In my previous project I had used the air drill for this purpose, however this time around I took the good advice of other builders and invested in a decent cordless drill (DeWalt 20V Max). Makes a big difference. Also invested in a WEN drill press which despite being imported and inexpensive appears to be well built.
Ended up with one countersink cage with a wobble in it, but Cleveland tools exchanged that quickly for me.
Still have one rivet I am not happy with on the nutplates but from what I understand the rivets really are there to hold the nutplate in place, and it is the bolt/screw itself that is the real structural member here.
One particular set of rivets I had a tough time with were the fuel tank attach nutplates in the middle of the spar. No matter what I tried, I constantly ended up with a proud factory head. I am going to invest in a flush set without the rubber ring in the hopes that it will help here. Another builder mentioned the ones with the rubber ring typically are better for the wing skins. I solved this riveting problem by using the c-frame to rivet which is a trick I have used before for difficult to set rivets.
After completing chapter 13, I built a simple wing rack so that I can get the spars out of the way and begin the wing rib prep. Other builders have said that it is workable to have the wings this close together, however I am still worrying about access when I start to rivet on the skins. Most likely I will have to go back to putting the wings on a table at that point for riveting. One step at a time.
Here are some pictures! Send some feedback if you are reading this, would be curious to know what you think.
