Wings On

Pink Floyd had a song Pigs on the wing.  I hope this airplane doesn't live up to that title, but regardless we have an assembled and rigged airplane!

The careful measurements I took when assembled prior to covering now paid off.  The final process went without a hitch.  Like some of us were discussing, though, even if the rigging is dead nuts on, there's no guarantee the airplane will fly straight and level.  We'll just have to wait for the first test flight.

Here are some shots of what I did the last couple of weeks.

I borrowed this lift from my friend Kent McMakin.  Made installation a one-man job.














Once in position, I supported the wings with a wooden structure.  It's adjustable to set the dihedral and angle of incidence.

Both uppers installed and leveled.

 I'm skipping a lot of steps here, but same process for the lowers. 

Before the wooden structure can be removed, the struts and wires obviously have to be installed.

Then, the ailerons and slave struts.

Notice the sleek, aerodynamic, high performance look of this four-aileron aerobatic wonder!

 Here are some detail shots of the assembly...






Cabane struts and transverse wires.

Interplane (N-struts) and aileron slave struts.

Misc. wire attach points.

The airplane was rigged with 0 degrees dihedral and 1 degree angle of incidence on the upper wing, and 2 degrees dihedral and 1.5 degrees AOI on the lowers.  These are the original L-P specs.

What's next?  I have to attach and rig the aileron cables, make the wire javelins, inspection covers for the wings, wheel covers, and cockpit combing.  Soon, I'll be at a point to weigh the aircraft and set up a time with the FSDO for a Conformity Inspection.  We're getting close!