Wing Fairings - when to fit?

[cnpeters]

Some folks have drilled and fitted their wing fairings when fitting the wings to the fuse the first time. When the wings are removed, it then is easy to install the nutplates. This would require ordering the finish kit early from where the fairings come vs getting them separately from Van's. Is it a big pain just to do it later at the time of final assembly of wing to fuse? What have folks done for this?

[nucleus]

I fitted them to the wing, dimpled the wing and put in the nutplates. Then, after the wings were on the plane, and the ailerons mounted I fitted them to the ailerons. This was last week.

Hans

[robjohnson]

You don't want to wait, Carl. Some of the nutplates on the bottom of the fuse will be impossible to install after the wings are mated up. Chad had this same question, and he ended up calling Van's and ordering the fairings alone ahead of time. They aren't a big deal to be shipped out.

[pierre smith]

Originally Posted by nucleus

I fitted them to the wing, dimpled the wing and put in the nutplates. Then, after the wings were on the plane, and the ailerons mounted I fitted them to the ailerons. This was last week.

Hans

......the fuselage/wing fairings, inboard.

Both these methods work or you can install the nutplates with the wings off the airplane and then after they're mounted, use a hole finder tool to mark the fairings.

Regards,

[noelf]

When I mated the wings to the fuselage for the first time, I also wanted to drill the holes for the nut-plates on the wing inboard rib edges. As noted, the fairings did not come with the fuselage kit. I had spoken to Van's about this some number of years ago...but it looks like they chose not to send them with the fus kit.

My "solution" at the time was to order a large sheet of aluminum from ACS and fabricate my own. I used the manufactured edge of the sheet as the "outside" edge and trimmed the inside edge for a uniform 1/16in gap. At the time, I assumed that the left over aluminum would get used elsewhere (I'm great at needing to fabricate two of everything I touch), but I haven't needed to use any of the left overs from that big sheet.

My observation on RV's that I have seen in my neck of the woods...those that match drilled the wing gap faring and then installed the plate-nuts after removing the wings looked the best. Those that drilled the holes for the plate-nuts on the wing first, and then later tried to match drill the holes in the gap fairings later (finish kit parts) had "puckers" in the gap fairings between the dimpled screw holes. Just something to think about...

[Larco]

Several people I know ordered the fairings separately then deleted them from the finishing kit. Larry

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by LARCO

Several people I know ordered the fairings separately then deleted them from the finishing kit. Larry

Thats what I did. It is a major pain to do these after the wings are on for good! Hard to rivet in the nutplates forcing you to use pop rivets.