-9 Wing/Fuselage joining?

[apkp777]

Hey all, I am looking ahead and see that Van's has you temporarily put the wings on to drill the aft spar and sent the incidence. I have a tight space and am wondering if it would matter to wait until the fuselage is complete and the kit is at the airport. My original thought was to have the whole kit done except for joining wings to fuselage, which would be done at the airport. Is this not a good idea? There's no way in my garage to put both wings on at home. I'd have to do one at a time and then I feel like it would be unbalanced.

 

[N941WR]

No problem waiting until you are at the airport. Many builders have done this for the same reason as you. Just remember that you will still put the wings on, drill them, drill the bottom of the wing skins, cut the flap rod hole, etc. remove the wings, install plate nuts and clean up the holes, then put the wings back on for the final time.

BTW, I used a hole duplicator to drill the holes on the bottom of the wing skins. You can just pull the skin away far enough with your finger tips to slide it in. Worked great!

 

[kiwipete]

I agree with Bill yes you can wait.
But in my case I wanted to send it to be painted before going to the airport. So I just fitted the wings out front on the drive one afternoon. With a little help all the jobs that needed to be done were quickly finished.

Did get quite a few odd looks from passers by though!

Peter

 

[apkp777]

My concern with puting the wings on is that my garage is too small and I just see myself dinging the wing manuevering them around some support posts I have. Also, I would like to get the wings to the airport and out of my way.

 

[cnpeters]

For space considerations, I did only one wing at a time in the garage as follows:
Fuse was put on sturdy workbench. Wing was attached with helpers and a saw horse with a jack and wood blocks was placed under the wing to support it. I used a smart level across the fuse and jacked the wing a little so it was level.
Then did all my floor lines, plumb bobs, levels, etc to set the wing. When done, took the wing off and repeated with the other after swinging the fuse around. Worked well.

 

[N941WR]

For space considerations, I did only one wing at a time in the garage as follows:
Fuse was put on sturdy workbench. Wing was attached with helpers and a saw horse with a jack and wood blocks was placed under the wing to support it. I used a smart level across the fuse and jacked the wing a little so it was level.
Then did all my floor lines, plumb bobs, levels, etc to set the wing. When done, took the wing off and repeated with the other after swinging the fuse around. Worked well.

Carl,

Never having seen this done I'm curious, how do you make sure the wings are straight across and not bowed tips in, tips out, or canted?

I?m not criticizing or anything but I can?t for the life of me see how this can be done. Any chance you can post some pictures?