Setting angle of incidence

Although it sounds pretty dry, one of the most important steps in setting up the airplane to fly well is accomplished when the wings are in place against the fuselage.  The sweep, the angle of incidence, and dihedral are all set, and fixed, by ONE bolt on each wing.  The forces on the bolt are substantial, so it's position must meet very stringent parameters.  This is an absolute "measure twice, drill once" event.

This is the final, and very satisfactory result.  Bolt centered in the rear spar tab, 6/8ths from any edge

We measured sweep with four weights hung from the leading edges.  All were co-linear on a chalk line

As seen here. Not shown are measurements from wingtips to aft fuse centerline.  We were within 1/8th inch.  Pretty good.

Angle of incidence requires a measurement, set up as above, on a three inch block at trailing rivet line

Close to perfectly level

simultaneously checking that fuse is level (fore/aft and side/side)

Yup!

Afterwards, for fun, we installed the control sticks

The wings are on!

Doug and I, assisted by Ryan and Tom, were able to get the wings on today.  It was equal parts precision and aluminum rodeo, but they are on and look good.  Afterwards, we briefly measured a few of the pertinent things, including sweep (there was none; the wings are in essentially perfect alignment); symmetry between both wings in terms of being orthogonal to the fuse (we were within 1/8th of an inch, measuring from wingtip to the most aft centerline point on the fuselage; ie darned good!), and a quick measure of incidence (also looks good. We are easily going to have appropriate margins when we drill in to the rear spar flange).  So, at this point, all is well.  We (that is to say, I) decided to wait until this weekend to drill the rear spar bolt.

Note shim under the wheel of our cradle on the right side of this photo.  We made sure we were level side to side. 

We hung four pyramid shaped fishing weights down from the leading edge (note blue tape). All were co-linear on the chalk line

Almost...

Doug had homework, and I couldn't find anybody else to help today, so the wings are still not on.  Close, but not on.

Meanwhile I wired the pitot and installed, and (prior to doing homework) Doug bolted on the Vetterman exhaust.

Heated pitot wiring

Protected with blue tape from bugs, spiders, etc

Doug added the exhaust

You can just see daylight through the gap that separates us from having wings on

That close!

Hanging up the engine

I unboxed the engine.  I had completed the construction of an engine stand, the purpose of which is to allow access to the engine more easily than it would be on the fuselage.  Hanging also begins to compress the mounts, so that there will be less sag between the line the engine creates, most visibly at the spinner, and the fixed cowling.  Wally, my technical counselor and I hung the engine, and then my friend Tom helped tighten the torque on the bolts in the mounts.

This is one very beautiful engine

The engine is from AeroSport in Kamloops, B.C., Canada.  It is an IO-360 vertical induction, one slick magneto, one P-mag, fuel injected, Plane Power alternator and it will have a backup alternator.

Also, I got an e-mail from Aerotronics on the design of my "plug and play" panel.  Dual AFS 4500 EFIS and Garmin radio stack with 430 WAAS and backup SL40 comm, 327 transponder, and the plane will have a TruTrak auto pilot.  There are back up round gauges for the "retro" look.  Very nice, IMHO

Just hangin' at the hangar

We are still working on a last few things on the right wing prior to hanging the wings on the fuselage.  As soon as I can arrange some free time and a small army of helpers, I am going to hang these, as well as hang the engine on the stand we built.  Work is starting on the firewall, and soon I'll start the rudder pedal installation, so there will be some interesting photos on the blog soon.

In the meantime, there is time for the obligatory "spinner-on-the-head" photo, just so any lurking FAA inspectors or DAR's will know how seriously we take ourselves.

And also, to justify to She Who Must Be Obeyed, the time Doug is spending at the hangar, a shot of our set-up for him to do homework when I don't need a second pair of hands.

Beautiful Hartzell constant speed prop

The "spinner-on-the-head" photo

Doing homework.  At the hangar.  In Ray Ban aviators.

Preparing to hang the engine

My technical counselor suggested that I build a stand to hang the engine on.  This accomplishes several things:  I can rotate the engine if needed to more easily access the bottom while fitting various parts, it compresses the Lord bushings on the dynafocal mount so I don't have to worry as much about the prop and spinner "sagging" when the cowling is installed, and I can get rid of the big wooden crate in the middle of my hangar

But first, Doug gets rid of some more of the blue vinyl on the fuse skin

I drilled holes for the dynafocal mount

The main gear will attach to this mount as well as the engine

This is the completed engine stand (two 3/4" plywood sheets, sandwiched, plus...)

(...a steel angle iron bar to further reinforce the plywood)