Sling 4 for Matt Build Log

With the left wing tip riveted, I started on the right side. Before that, I reviewed Craig's blog for how he handled the EL tips. I was curious about the gap between the skins and the composite, but I also found his approach to drilling the holes. Following Craig's example, I aligned the composite against the skin and drilled the first hole at the trailing edge. The composite is much more rigid at this location and the drill bit is able to cut through. Put a cleco in and move to the next hole. The cleco held up the composite material enough to be able to drill through. Insert another cleco and continue. This approach was much easier than parking holes and using a drill press with a backing block. The second guidance I gleamed from Craig was the use of a filler to even out the gap between the skin and wing tip. I knew I had seen this before, but I wanted to confirm the solution. I saw this in person on Phil's TSi . I made return to this post and add pictures later. ...

The garage was cool yesterday and I felt motivated, so some work got done. The elevator had been sitting across the benches for a few weeks with the composite wingtips inserted. I needed to align them, mark and drill holes, and rivet them in. The composite is too flimsy to support drilling in-place. I marked a hole with a Sharpie and removed the wingtip and drilled using a 1x2" as a backing piece. I regret having to remove the composite because getting it in there is tricky. It's a tricky, tight fit. Testing out the cleco and building up the motivation to mark and drill the remaining holes. Notice the gaps around the leading edge. I figure I'll need to fill this area later. Both sides finished! The gaps that need to be filled. The shape of the skins don't match the composite shapes exactly around these tight bends. Filling them shouldn't be a problem. Time: 2 hrs