Luis & Fab's RV-7A Construction Log

Back to the Ailerons for a while… I have been working on the leading edges this time. The leading edge of the aileron goes somewhat into the wing, and has a counterbalance weight to make up for the weight of the aileron itself (picture it trailing the structure in the photo below)

The counterbalance is a steel water pipe! It fits right into the tip of the leading edge, and is held to the leading edge with a row of pull-rivets. It is also attached to the little side ribs with a single rivet. To drill this hole, the plans have a note about using a long drill to go through one of the holes in the spar right into this hole. I did not catch this, and just used my WWII-vintage 90 degree drill.. 🙂

Finally, here is me drilling the leading edge and water pipe

We have had some time to pound wing rivets we are almost done with the top skin on the left wing…

Now we just need to do those two rows in the center, and then I’ll squeeze the row along the bottom spar.

That’s right..not too many posts lately. Fabiola has been busy with some consulting work, so we haven’t made much headway with the wings. I’ve been doing miscellanous stuff — deburring aileron parts, priming, etc….

Wing rivets beckon…

At this point we are ready to start riveting the main skins. Since this is a two-person operation, I’m getting started with the Ailerons as well. Fabiola and I will work on the wings as her schedule permits, and I’ll continue on with Aileron construction.

Here is a not-very-good picture of one of the aileron skins sitting on the bench, with about half the stiffeners drilled and clecoed.

While at it, I also drilled the reinforcement plates and aileron brackets to the aileron spar. The outer brackets are pre-driled, bu there are only two holes. I used these handy little vice-grips to hold them tight in place while drilling the holes to final size.