Articles
Hour 5 - Sand Right Main Wing
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- Category: Quickheads BLOG
- Published on Wednesday, 03 September 2008 05:00
- Written by Dan Yager
- Hits: 1417
{flv}construction/hour005{/flv}
OK. . . I've calmed down a little since my last hour when I felt like I should throw the whole plane out. I firmly believe that the beauty of this airframe, and composite construction in general, is the ability of an average homebuilder to inspect his/her airplane and make the needed repairs themselves.
That being said, I think it's imperative that someone like me (who bought a project off of eBay) is very thorough when inspecting the structure. Also, it's very important that a new guy (like me) ask questions of some of the more experienced builders if they're not sure what something is supposed to look like. In addition, it's important that each homebuilder seriously assess their own skill level early, and if you really have bitten off more than you can chew, either get help, or walk away from the project while you still can.
At any rate, this little "previously flying" project of mine has turned out to be a really educational experience for me. Each time I pull something apart to get a closer look I see the hours of work ahead of me grow exponentially. Although it's a little disheartening, I think I just need to keep at it and try to make slow steady progress every day. I’m trying to pretend that this plane was once owned by Chuck Yeager or Hap Arnold and treat it like it’s a precious artifact. That at least gets me to take my time and make sure I do the best possible job I’m capable of.
At the beginning of this hour I removed the last tab at the fuselage split line that makes the airframe trailerable. I was able to remove the rest of the tabs with very little difficulty, but that last tab under the aileron reflexor was giving me a little trouble. I couldn’t find my 3/8” open end wrench to get at the nut. So initially you’ll see me try to use an all 16th’s (Crescent Wrench) and when that doesn’t work I break out the smallest of my trusty vise grips. In addition, I was having trouble locating my “Super Phillips Screwdriver” to get a good grip on the screw head and turn it. It has a nice big handle for extra torque and the head itself seems to fit perfectly in the notch of all those AN screws that hold the tail on. After an exhaustive search of my tool bench, I finally decided to go back in the house where I found my favorite screwdriver. . . In my wife’s tool drawer! I of course had to lay down the law. . . and ask her nicely, not to do that again. . . please. 
After I got the tab off it was back to sanding. Now unfortunately for me we have tenants living above our garage. . . but even more unfortunately for me, those tenants happen to be my mother and father-in-law. They are great people, but they are really not good with a lot of noise. (Apparently they don’t realize that I’m restoring Chuck Yeager’s plane down here.) So to make a long story short, I’m back to hand sanding everything.
Here you’ll see me finishing the remainder of the top right side of the main wing. I completed about 80% of the wing with the orbital palm sander in about an hour. (My in-laws were on vacation.) The remaining 20% I finished here in about 30 minutes completely by hand. I don’t consider this to be too bad. My arms get a little more tired, but the pace is pretty good. Wax on. . . Wax off. . . Danielson! You can definitely tell that I’m right handed though! With only about an hour on each of my camera tapes, I didn’t have much time remaining to start a more interesting area, so I finish up by doing a little touch up on the leading edge, and then sanding the name “Rhonda Cooper” off the passenger’s side of the cockpit to help make this project feel it really is my plane after all!
Now what about the music in this clip? All the guys on the Q-list were giving me suggestions about what music to play, but it suddenly struck me that the song at the end of “The Benny Hill Show” would be perfect. So I looked that up on Google and found it almost instantly. Then I looked back through the Q-list and realized that the name of the song was “Yakety Sax” as suggested by Dennis Gentry! Awe shucks. . . I thought I was being all original! At any rate, Dennis, you’re the winner for this hour. Send me an e-mail by clicking the Contact Me link above and I’ll send you a coupon for 20% off anything in my store! You can hold on to it indefinitely in case something ever appears there that you'd want to buy! 
As always, I invite your feedback. Please feel free to leave a comment below.
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