The fault is entirely that of a lazy blogger, you know you get behind a few times, it seems harder to catch up, you put it off, it gets harder to catch up.............and so it goes!
So here we are in the New Year with a firm resolution to do better. Progress with the build in the last few months can only be described as intermittent. At the last report the tailcone was almost complete. I'm pleased to say that is finished and in storage. The left wing skins are in place and is securely stored in the wing stand expertly constructed according to the plans used by many builders. The right wing is well under way and I am currently engaged in riveting the bottom skins. This series of photos will summarises progress over the last 4 months. Slow eh!
This is the forward skin rib it is riveted on the top of the tailcone and will be the forward fixing for the vertical stabilizer (tail fin).
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Here it is riveted in place.
I prepared and fixed the fiberglass fairings at the top of the vertical stabilizer and rudder.
I assembled the trim motor and actuator assembly. It gets fitted to the rear bulkhead later in the build.
The completed tail-cone is gathering dust in the shed.
Tapping a thread that will receive an eye bolt which is a aircraft tie-down point.
Brackets attached to the main wing spar to which the ribs are attached.
The top piece below is a doubler which strengthens the rear spar (bottom of the picture) at the inboard end.
Clecoed in place ready for riveting.
All done.
These are flaperon attach brackets. The flaperons attach to the rear of the wings.
This is the inboard attach bracket complete with bearing.
The attach brackets temporarily fitted to main wing ribs.
A pile of main wing ribs. There are dozens and dozens of these. They require hours and hours of mind-numbingly tedious deburring and fluting to straighten them. It was a huge relief to be finished this let me tell you.
Here are a couple clecoed in place ready to be riveted to the mains spar attach brackets.
The main wing ribs all attached to the main spar, every builder takes this photo looking though the main ribs the whole length of the wing.
This is the assembled stall warning mechanism. It is attached to a nose rib in the left wing. The stainless steel flat at the front of this photo protrudes from the front of the wing and activates the micro-switch which in turn sounds a warning when the aircraft is approaching a stall.
This is the left wing ready for the skins to be attached. The rear spar is in the foregound.
This is the assembly that affixes to the inboard wing rib and will allow electrical connection between the wing and fuselage for lights and the staff warning.
Now in place. The strings run the lenth of the wing and will later be used to pull wires for the lights.
The outboard skin, left wing ready to be riveted.
The inboard left skin riveted in place.
Here the nose ribs are close together at the inboard end of the wing. They are close because this is where you step up onto the wing to get into the aircraft.
The left wing, bottom skin is complete and almost ready to be turned. The skins will wrap around the leading edge of the wing, they are hanging down at the front of the photo.
There is an access point in the bottom of the wing adjacent to the stall warning mechanism. You can see it in the photos above and below.
The top skins are now riveted to the left wing and the wing walk doubler is about to riveted on top at the inboard end This adds a second layer of skin for strength where you step into the aircraft.
The wings on the RV-12 are removable. This is the hand-hold hole at the outboard end of the left wing
The left top outboard skin is partially complete as shown here. I have not completed the wing tip because (a) I a waiting for the lighting kit and (b) I'm not satisfied with the workmanship and need a replacement part to do a better job.
The left wing is about 95% complete and safe and sound in the wing stand.
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