czechsix
Well Known Member
Having built an RV-8A previously, one thing that surprised me on the -14 wings is that the rear spar attach hole is drilled and reamed to final size during the wing construction process. On my -8A and other RV models that friends are building (including the -7 and -10), you don?t drill the rear spar attach hole until the wings are attached to the fuselage. You install the wings on the fuselage using temporary bolts in the main spar, then carefully align the wings to have the same angle of incidence and make sure the wingtips are the same distance from the aft end of the fuselage. Then you match drill the hole in the wings and fuselage together.
Looking at pics of the fuselage from other builders, the -14 appears to have the rear spar attach holes also drilled to final size apparently without ever mounting the wings. Is this correct? I know the prepunching is very accurate, but people are managing to build twist into prepunched control surfaces. There?s got to be a tolerance stack up between the two wings, the fuselage alignment between front & rear spars, and the process of the builder enlarging the holes to final size. It doesn?t take much to get a slightly different incidence in each wing which would lead to it being out of trim in roll and/or drop one wing first in the stall.
Has anyone installed wings on their fuselage and checked incidence to confirm both wings are the same?
Looking at pics of the fuselage from other builders, the -14 appears to have the rear spar attach holes also drilled to final size apparently without ever mounting the wings. Is this correct? I know the prepunching is very accurate, but people are managing to build twist into prepunched control surfaces. There?s got to be a tolerance stack up between the two wings, the fuselage alignment between front & rear spars, and the process of the builder enlarging the holes to final size. It doesn?t take much to get a slightly different incidence in each wing which would lead to it being out of trim in roll and/or drop one wing first in the stall.
Has anyone installed wings on their fuselage and checked incidence to confirm both wings are the same?