11/19/2006
What a messy day today was!! The gelcoat on the tips creates a SUPER FINE dust when sanded. I'll get to that in a second. I started by riveting the piano hinge to the wing. No surprises here, the squeezer made easy work of this.
Then I used the Dremel tool to cut the flanges off of the fiberglass wingtips. I just trimmed the mid section where the hinge will be because the front of the tip will not have hinge in that area, and the rear portion will be trimmed a little to meet up with the aileron. No turning back now...
Next I cut the tip side of the hinge down to the correct lengths, and drilled holes in them. I doesn't matter where these holes are drilled, or even if the line up...they will be filled over and painted later on. I installed these with the pin, but have not yet cut the pin to length.
I did a little filing of the tips where they were cut, but not a whole lot was needed since the cut was pretty straight. I ran to Menards this afternoon to get some 1" foam to make the ribs that will go inside the tips to help keep their shape. Using the wingtip as a guide, I marked and cut out three ribs (in case I screw one up), and fit them to the tips.
There's a little more trimming and lightening to be done here, but this will work for now. Now comes the REALLY messy part. As if the cutting of the flanges weren't messy enough, sanding off the gelcoat is an absolute disaster. The dust is so fine, it gets on EVERYTHING! I'm gonna have to flush the garage out next spring...
I guess I should explain why I sanded the gelcoat off along the edge. The only way to accurately drill the holes in the tip to match the holes in the hinge, is to use a light dropped down inside the tip after it's duck taped in place. The light won't shine through the gelcoat, so I had to take it down to the fiberglass. You'll see in a couple of days what I mean. What a mess!!
4.5 hours