Wings (temporarily) mounted!
Got a late start today as we spent last night at the Pan Pacific in downtown Seattle. It was part Valentine’s Day and part visiting with friends. It was great to have a nice dinner out and stay in a fancy hotel.
I did the same routine as yesterday on the right wing, unbolted the wing, filed the opening larger, and re-installed the mount. I then prepped the wings for trial fitting. I marked on the bottom skins where the screws should be, located my hardware store bolts, etc. I talked Julie into coming down to the hangar to help out. The enticement was removing the hard top from her car. Spring is just around the corner.
When she arrived, we got the left wing into position on saw horses. I maneuvered the spar into the slot and she supported the outboard end. The only slightly difficult part was keeping the fuselage bottom skin from hitting the wing bottom skin. The best approach is to lift the wing root up so they don’t hit. But Julie wasn’t quite heavy and tall enough to effectively push the wing in. I ended up dashing back and forth a few times, but it worked out well. With the wing all the way in, I had her lift on the outboard end until the top holes lined up. I lightly tapped a bolt in. I then had her lift more until the bottom holes lined up. Tapped in another bolt. Very easy. Repeat for the right wing. The plane looks very, very cool with wings on finally.
I’ve got a bunch of little fitting items to do and then I can remove the wings, install nut plates at the root, and install them permanently.