E It has been a while since I've worked on the plane.  Nora and I were still wrapping up wedding commitments which has left no time for other things.  Anyway, I finally had a chance to test fit the pitot tube.  (The tape is to keep bugs from taking up residence in the pitot system until it is actually used.)  (10/26/04)

E Here is how the pitot tube and AOA lines will look inside the wing.  They will be tie-wrapped to the black wire conduit at the top of the picture.  Remember, the aileron push tube has to go occupy this space as well as the lines.  The pink string will remain in place in case I ever wish to install a heated pitot tube and need to pull a wire for it.  

Update: July 15, 2007

E After installing the wings, pitot, etc. at the airport and after the VFR transponder and pitot/static check I found the connections above leaked like the Titanic.  On the advice of the Avionics Technician who inspected my plane, I changed the connection by cutting off the AN fittings and removed the quick connect.   I suspect it was the "quick connect" that leaked, not the AN fitting.  They were replaced with a section of vacuum hose and some tie wraps.

F Every married builder soon realizes that at some point in the project their wonderful and understanding wife asks for a favor.  It is at that point the builder had better jump on it, get it done, and make the wife happy so they can get back to building.  My little task was to finish carpeting a cat tree that I had built some time before.  The problem was where I should store the flaps while I work on the cat tree.  It dawned on me I could build a rack on the wing cradle to hold and protect them.   (2/13/05)

E I finally got around to plugging the hole I drilled in the bottom of the left wing for Van's pitot tube.  I drew a circle on scrape aluminum I had laying around, in my case it was the disks I cut out of the VS stiffener for the lightening holes.  After drilling a center hole and countersinking it for the rivet I cut, sanded, and filed the plug until it fit in the hole.  The rivets on either side of the pitot tube hole were drilled out and a strap made from some scrap 064 aluminum was cut to bridge the three holes.  The strap was riveted in place leaving a pocket where the pitot tube was supposed to go.

E The plug was put in the hole and matched drilled to the newly installed strap and riveted in place.

E Here is the finished product.  Not too bad but I sure wish I knew I was going to use the Dynon pitot before I followed the instructions and drilled out that hole   (4/14/05)

F My in-laws came and spent Labor day weekend with us and between going to the fantastic NC Zoo and other obligations we managed to find time to rivet the bottom skin on the left wing.  The pitot tube is ready to install but was left off to keep it from getting damaged.  (9/4/05)

E Fitting the wing tips isn't that difficult.  The trick is to measure the recesses and cut them to fit.  The dimensions are listed on one of the drawings and I'm too lazy to walk back to the basement to find out which drawing.  I used a cutoff wheel in my Dremel and it worked great.  I'm sure there are other ways to cut the fiberglass but this method was recommended to me and it worked.  (11/15/05)

F Next up was fitting the the wing tip ribs.  Don't forget the to flute them.  (11/15/05)

E After you figured out the correct location for the ribs, mark the rivet lines on the wing tips, measure and drill the rivet holes.  I did this in a two step process, similar to drilling the "J" channels.  First I drilled the holes, then marked the center of the rib flanges, lined them up and drilled them, clecoing as I went along.  (11/15/05)

F The final step was to set the aileron to the correct position.  Remember the aileron alignment tool you made last year?  Time to dust it off.  After aligning the aileron I used a spring clamp between the aileron and the flap to hold it in place.  Since my flaps are in perfect alignment yet they had to be lowered to match up with the aileron.  With the aileron locked in place, I lined up the wing tip, taped it in place, and drilled it to the wing.  (11/15/05)

E Fitting the lens covers is easy enough, even if a bit time consuming.  They come as one unit and need to be cut in half.  There are some dimples from the molding process.  Just connect the dots and cut along the line.  There is enough extra that will still require trimming you don't have to worry about the this cut.  (11/23/05)

F I used my Dremel with 426 reinforced cutoff wheels to cut the fiberglass wing tips and the lens covers.  Do not use regular cutoff Dremel cutoff wheels, they tend to break off the arbor and go shooting across your shop.  I was lucky and was never hit by one of those flying wheels.  (11/23/05)

E Here is the first trial fit of the lens cover, as you can see, there is a good bit to trim.  (11/23/05)

F The lens has a small lip as result of the molding process.  This needs to be trimmed.  Be careful not to slip with the Dremel or you will be buying a new lens.  (11/23/05)

E After cutting the lens the edge has to be "dressed" to keep it from cracking.  The scraper in the left most picture is from Avery's and works well for removing the bigger "boogers" left over from trimming.  I used 120 grit sandpaper in the belt sander and used this to finish "dress" the Plexiglas lens.  (11/23/05)

F After trimming, tape the cover in place and mark it for final trimming.  You might have to repeat this process a few times until you get a "perfect" (good enough?) fit.  (11/23/05)

E After trimming, tape the cover in place and mark it for final trimming.  You might have to repeat this process a few times until you get a "perfect" (good enough?) fit.  (11/23/05)

F Once the lens is properly fitted, tape it in place, mark the location for the screw and drill a hole on the top and one on the bottom.  Make sure you use drill bits designed for Plexiglas.  (11/23/05)

E Once drilled, the lens may be clecoed in place.  Next up will be countersinking the holes for machine screws and installing the platenuts in the wing tip.  (11/23/05)

F Installing the the position / strobe lights on the wing tip was fairly straight forward.  First up was taking a look at the lights.  I went with Airplane Gear's Skybright Strobes & Lights and was surprised at how bright the lights are.  Of course, I still need to add the wiring and try out the strobes but if they are half as bright as the position lights my little RV-9 will be light up like a 747.  These lights use fewer LED's than some other product available for the homebuilt market but they make up for that by using a reflector to improve the light dispersion.    (11/26/05)

E The first thing I did was to make sure the wing was level.  Then I drew a "level" line in the cut out for the light.  The parting line on the fiberglass tips from Van's are close to level but not exact.  (11/26/05)

F Next up, disassemble the lights.  Since the cutout in the RV wingtip would shield an aft facing white light I ordered these lights w/o the white tail light.  There is a separate white tail light / strobe that is fitted to the rudder bottom on the new RV kits.  (11/26/05)

E The bottom plate of the light fixtures has a threaded brass insert to hold the unit together.  Using a drill bit that just fits inside the brass fitting line up the backing plate and turn the drill bit by hand just enough to mark the line.  Take down the plage and finish drill the hole with a power drill.  (11/26/05)

F With the aft screw inserted to hold the plate in place lined it up with the level line and turn the drill bit by hand to mark the location of the second hole.  As before, remove the backing plate and finish drill the hole.  To allow the room for the bolts, enlarge both holes with a #40 drill bit.  (11/26/05)

E Once both bolt holes are drilled reinstall the the plate and mark the wire hole.  Remove the plate, and drill the wire hole to size using a uni-bit.  (11/26/05)

F After fitting and installing the first light, the results were very pleasing.  It wasn't until the lens over was fitted that we realized the LED's and their reflector stuck out too far and interfered with the cover.  The solution was fairly straight forward.  Since this light did not include the rear white lights, the section aft of the rear bolt hole could be cut off w/o impact the function of the light / strobe fixture.  A few seconds on the band saw, new holes were drilled and the light was installed.  (11/26/05)

E Here is the final product.  The entire installation took less than an hour for both wings, including inspecting and cutting the light after discovering the interference with the initial fit.  (11/26/05)

F Start fitting the Wing Root Fairings (WRF) by marking them left and right.  They are identical parts right up until you match drill them.  (12/10/05)

E Remove the top and bottom inboard wing tank screws.  These screws will secure the WRF as well as the tank.  (12/10/05)

F Drill, deburr, and dimple the two holes shown in this picture.  Remember to set the dimples in opposite directions on the left and right WRF.  These pictures are from the left WRF.  The inboard tank screws will go through these holes.  (12/10/05)

E Cleco the WRF in place and install the two fuel tank screws.  Use a thin strip of something (wood is what I used) to set the edge distance as the WRF wraps around the fuel tank.  (12/10/05)

F Prior to match drilling the holes in the fuel tank skins, mark them with Sharpie, remove the WRF and check for edge distance.  The kit was so good that I did not have an edge distance problem so I reinstalled the WRF and match drilled it with a #40 drill bit.  Once all the holes are match drilled I removed the WRF, enlarged, deburred, and dimpled the holes in them.  When the wings are moved in a few weeks I will enlarged the those holes and install plate nuts.  It took me awhile to figure this out but the holes on the top of the wing where the wing walk doublers are get counter sunk and thus use K1000 plate nuts.  All the other holes are dimpled and use K1100 plate nuts.  (12/10/05)

E Not much has happened to the wings since they were removed from the fuselage.  Last week the left wing was put on sawhorses so I could install the plate nuts that hold the wing root fairing in place.  While I was at it I took care of the service bulletin that requires removing the tank inspection plate so the nut holding the fuel pickup tube could be drilled and safety wired.  Note the fuel pickup, it is an options from Van's that not many builders seem to know about.  (03/08/07)

F The fuel pickup tube service bulletin is complete.  Another local builder wrote the SB number and date of compliance on the tank cover, which I thought was a great idea.  (03/14/07)

E With the fuel tank service bulletin complied with, I elected to fill both tanks with 100LL and calibrate the Dynon D10 EMS.  I do not recommend you play with fuel in an enclosed basement as there could be ignition sources there.  In my case, there are none, the furnace, hot water heater, etc. are all in the garage.  In addition, I had all the windows and doors open along with fans to pull the fumes out.  Still it stunk the place up.  On the good side, neither tank leaked and the calibration was easy enough to do.  (04/5/07)

F After installing the wing tips I noticed they did not line up with where the ailerons should be.  The solution is to cut the trailing edge of the wing tip and down the side.  Push it into the correct position and fiberglass it up.  Not a big deal but just another time consuming task.  (5/27/07)