22-06: Clecoing the ailerons together (FIRST WALL OF SHAME ENTRY)

Building an aeroplane is about self education... 

So, I alluded to it earlier... 

There are 3 holes at inboard end of each of the top and bototm skins, and 2 holes at the outboard end. The skins are NOT symmetrical. You need to make sure you make a left and a right, by flipping the right skin upside down. I somehow, i have no idea how, got this wrong. 

When i laid out the skins, i did not actually attach them to their assemblies (as there was no drilling required etc). I just laid them out, and thinking they seemed identical and symmetrical, laid them so the little burr from the punching process was on the inside. That will make the deburring much easier. 

Well... 

Step 1 of 22-06 asks you to cleco the whole aileron together, in order to get ready to drill the trailing edge. i did this with the left aileron, so problems. Got to the right... and... 

Here you can see the 3 holes on the inboard end of the aileron top skin. Alinging perfeclty with the spar and nose skin holes. Except, the whole skin is upside down. The paint is on the outside not the inside, all the dimples are outward, not inward, and the worst thing - all the ribs and stiffners are riveted on the wrong side of the skin... doh!

This is the outboard end with the 2 holes. 

She's not going to fly like that... 

So, what to do? 

I decided that there was simply no way to save these skins. There would be just too many dimples to undo - and so many rivets to drill out (144 of them!). I contacted Van's to order the skins, which were reasonably priced at $56. They ended up doing me a great service on the shipping too - they managed to roll them up into a small fedex box and shipping was only another $30 USD - for a total of $86 USD or $120 AUD. I guess if i ever get this flying, i'll have to have one less $100 hamburger.. 

The replacement skins only took about 10 days from order to receipt. Pretty happy with Van's service, but not with myself! 

Drilling our rivets

To prepare for the new skins, i will need to remove the old stiffners and ribs. So i used a #41 drill bit and drilled them all out. No issues getting them out at all - all went fine with no elongated or expanded holes. Thankfully! 

And now i have the first 2 entries in the "WALL OF SHAME"!

Moving on to more positive things

While i waited for the new skins to come, there was no reason i could not keep going on the left aileron. 

So the left aileron was clecod together in its cradle (successfully!!) and the trailing edge was added in place. Like with the flaps, i used an aulminum box extrusion along the top side to keep the trialing edge straight. I then drilled #40 all the holes perpendicular to the chord of the wedge (like the flaps and other surfaces). 

Once thie was done, i was able to remove the skins, and dimple the trailing edges. 

I will not countersink the trailing edge wedges until i have the new skins ready to go and both trailing edges have been drilled and fitted. 

Next step is to prep the newly arrived skins and get the right aileron to the same stage as the left.