Solo

I don't have my old Fundamentals of Instruction book handy, but I remember that Step 1 in learning was rote, followed by other steps until a student has mastered a task, be it a steep turn, landings, or covering an airplane. I've been helping Jim and doing stuff on my own, but just like the first time you solo an airplane, starting work on covering without having him around for easy reference was a *gulp* moment.

Fortunately, he left me with a few projects that started out easy, then worked me into more complex tasks. First was finishing the ribcap on the root tube. I started by attaching it, then shrinking the covering around the side and attaching it with thinned PolyBrush.

After that came attaching the bottom reinforcing tape for the fin. I held it in place with blue tape, did one side and let it dry, then pulled it tight and did the other side. 

Remember those lightening holes I had cut on the root rib? I was ordered to remove the rib and replace it with a solid wood rib as supplied by the factory. Here's why- when the wing is covered and shrunk, a tremendous amount of force is placed on the rib, and the lightened rib would have probably fractured.

The right wing is complete and ready for access panels. 

Checking the fit of the aft wing support plate before gluing it into place. 

BTW, here's what dried PolyBrush looks like. Easy cleanup. 

Jim's panels

My panels. How does he make his look so good? 

After the access panels reinforcements come the finishing tapes. 

 

I never thought we'd be this far along. I thought we'd be lucky to have the turtledeck on before he left, let alone both wings covered and stitched, and the fin/rudder done. Yee-haw... (Of course, now I have to come up with a paint scheme.)

Vacation's over, back to work.

Wrapping it up

Back at it. I'm going to make a separate post about stitching the wings, but the next morning we jumped right into covering the right wing. 

Jim started on the fin, a seemingly simple covering job, but because it's mounted on the boom tube already it's a real pain. Also note the compound curves at each corner. Nothing to do but move slow, and plan each step.

Again, Jim has tricks gained from years of building, so you'll understand if we skip ahead. Jim offers builder's assistance for a fee, and to me his fee is far too cheap for the time you save. 

Rudder and fin complete, time for some access panel reinforcement gussets.

The 11 days Jim was out went by too quickly. A lot of progress was made, and a lot still to go. Jim left me with an extensive list of where to go from here.

Here's to you, Richard, wherever you are.