Wendell Folks RV-8 Project - Page 10.

December 19, 2005:  Wendell finished priming the to remaining wing skins, the aileron and elevator push rods, and all the parts for the aileron mounting brackets.  He is riveting the brackets together in this photo.

The aileron brackets for the RV-7/8 wing go on the same way mine did on the RV-9A wing.

After the aileron brackets are fully riveted in place on both wings, the aileron fairings are securely riveted in place.

Before the ailerons could be mounted, some short 6061-T6 aluminum tubing spacers had to be fabricated to the correct lengths.  You can see some of the details of how that was done using the drill press and a flat file on my PAGE 78.  The last thing accomplished today was the installation of the steel aileron push rod from the aileron bellcrank to the RIGHT aileron.  I showed Wendell how the aileron alignment jig sets the bellcrank before the aileron rod length is adjusted to center the trailing edge of the aileron to the wing chord centerline.

December 20, 2005:   Wendell had other RV builder visitors at his shop today.  James Forester (left) and Larry Champion both came to visit.  James has a completed RV-8 that is flying.  He offered us knowledge of some areas of construction that will be challenging during the final assembly of the horizontal stabilizer to the fuselage.   Larry came over to see completed portions of the quick-build fuselage since he is working on the standard kit.  He wanted to confirm the installation of several sections of the fuselage and how those parts are interconnected.  Since we were discussing the tail section final assembly, Wendell thought this group photo would have more impact if we placed the tail section parts in position for this pix.

The time consumed during the day was well spent sharing information about building the RV-8.  That did not leave much time to make significant progress in the day's construction.  The control stick assembly was the focus of the small amount of work done today.

December 21, 2005:  Wednesday morning was spent getting together the parts for the wing jig.  It is needed to ease the riveting of the final wing skin to the quick-build wings.  The 10-foot-high ceiling in the shop required longer 2x4's than I used building my wing jig.  When the upright posts were securely wedged between the concrete floor and the two short boards screwed to a roof truss, I instructed Wendell on the need to get everything plumb and square as the steel wing support angles were installed.  Right-angle steel braces secure the uprights to the 2x4 down on the floor and the 1x4 boards that are secured to the roof truss above.   After removing the RIGHT aileron, the right wing was set on the jig and secured at both ends.  Right after this photo was snapped, the remaining wing skin was clecoed into position from the rear spar upward about 12 inches to demonstrate access during the riveting steps to come soon.