Wing Mounting

This may sound like a naive question for someone who's been buiulding for a year and a half, but here goes...

Since I am unable to mount the wings at my house, I am trying to finsih every possible taks that doesn't require the wings to be installed. I've even made jumper cablesfrom the wing root to the fuselage to test the wing wiring . I am just about complete, and will be moving to my hangar in the next couple weeks.

What I am wondering is, once I put the wings on, align them, and drill the rear spar, will I have to remove the wings again for some reason, or can I do connections, fairings, tank mounting brackets, etc, with the wings on? I am hoping that the answer is "once they are on, you never have to take them off...!", but maybe I'm dreaming....

This is so that I can plan my work and "support staff" requirements!
Paul Dye

Tough Call

I have helped to install 4 sets of wings to date and I have yet to see them on for good during the first install. It will depend on things like your paint proceedures and whether you are willing to walk on them while finishing the other tasks. It is well worth it to remove them when finishing and during the painting process. Remember when you are 90% done your only have 90% to go. When it is time, mine will come off to finish. Good luck.

ww2planes said:

It is well worth it to remove them when finishing and during the painting process. Remember when you are 90% done your only have 90% to go. When it is time, mine will come off to finish.

Click to expand...

Woof! Call me lazy, but I only want to do my wings once, hopefully I can get it right the first time. Painting? Not me, I'd screw that right up. Plus, my garage just isn't big enough. I'll save my pennies and get it done at a paint shop somewhere down the road...

Not sure about the "8", but with my 6A, I thought I had the wings on for the last time including torqueing the nuts.

Then I installed the fairing that covers the gap between the root rib & fusalage. Turns out, that I couldn't get the nut-plates installed without some real skinny hands.

End the end, the wings came back off, and will remain off until painted. And what the heck, I pulled the whole tail assemblies off to paint them too!

On and off

I think it will take at least one on and off cycle for the nutplates and the tank attach bracket. It's really not a big deal to take them off and put them back on.

Thanks!

Good answers, all - thanks! I was mostly worried about having to pull them to do nutplates and the tank bracket, as a couple of you mentioned. I've pretty much decided to fly it "green" and let a shop do the painting once I get done with the test period - I've painted airplanes before, and this one deserves better than what I can do. I know my own limitations from personal experience!

So one more question - when only one wing is installed, will I need a saw-horse under it to keep the plane from falling over, or is the gear wide enough to support the load with one wing missing?

Paul Dye

You will need a support! I used furniture dollies with plastic milk crates & padded foam on top. Very adjustable to help line things up. I think I'm up to 3 times on & off.

Derrell
RV7A finish