.5 hrs. drawing the top view of my latest paint scheme and flipping the wing (with a friend's help!).

This seems to fit with the side view I posted the other day.  Now I've got 2 years to figure out how to go from this to masks to paint an actual Sling 4.  Anybody know how?

A friend came over to help me flip the wing over so I can check the alignment of the rib bottoms and test fit the bottom skins. It was heavier than I thought it would be.  Should be interesting to put the finished wing up on the wall...  I'm thinking a padded jig to maneuver it around without damaging it.

1 hr. working on the nose ribs and other fiddling...

I was given a heads-up by builder Bob Zaleski that the forward-most flanges of the nose ribs should be rounded to better mate up with the leading edge skin.  Here's what it looks like before modification.

Using a socket and a rawhide mallet I rounded that flange (and the one on top).

And with a little additional filing, this is what it looks like.  Subtle curving.

Here's another nose rib where it's a little more visible.  Nice.

Page 8, Detail A says to check that the bottom of the rear spar meets up with the angle on the ribs.  Here's an example where it doesn't quite meet up.  For now I've cleco'ed them together, but I'll address this more thoroughly when I flip over the structure.

Miscellaneous  stuff that came in the mail!  Filler, for filling in the rivet heads (and fairing the various composite wing tips to the metal); Adel clamps of various sizes for electrical cabling, 14g wire for the pitot and nylon sheathing for the wiring.

1 hr. fiddling with the wing and drawing a tweaked version of the last paint scheme I came up with.

So far, I'm liking this one the best of all.

Just a doodle today of a different idea for the paint scheme.

1.5 hrs. Checking out my new ribs and their alignment with the rear spar and enlarging the holes for the step ribs.

I noticed the new ribs still stood a bit tall over the rear spar.  Then it occurred to me that maybe it wasn't the rib, but the rear spar flange angle.  Here's what it looked like after cleco'ing it in.

 I put a 4' ruler on the rear spar and there's a gap!  Meaning that the flange here is angled too low.

After some hand bending (and other spots on the spar that also had gaps), no gap!

And now it's way better lined up with the rib!  A little press (or bang) down on the rib and it should be perfect.

I ran the ruler all around the wing across all the ribs and at various points along the chord.  Very good alignment.  I'll do it again before I put the skins on again and when I'm closer to riveting.  Check, check and double check! :-)  We want the wing surface smooth.  If the underlying rib is a bit high or low, the skin will deform to meet it.

Starting to drill out the step rib holes to fit the 4.8mm x 15 rivets.  If you have later versions of the parts, you may not need to do this step.

Every surface needed deburring after using the chucking reamer (#11) to widen the holes.

All done!  Yay!

1.75 hr. riveting rear spar.  Decided it was better to take the rear spar off the jigs to rivet it since it was under some stress on the jigs and it was bending the connection between the two main sections.  I want it straight, so off it came.

First I found that the hinge part marked 5R was really 5L (and visa-versa), so I swapped the parts and the misaligned holes you see below went away.  This would have been easy to miss because all the holes you rivet at this stage were aligned.

The rear spar down in the ground and riveted!  All the holes I shouldn't rivet were marked with red dots (well except that first row which I knew shouldn't be riveted).

The other end.

Notice how the nose rib flanges are straight.  They need to be curved a bit so that the skin has a smooth curve and is not faceted.

Another builder suggested putting the autopilot controller at the top, so here's the updated panel drawing.