Upper Wing: Leading Edge (12-13)
Christmas vacation provided some extra time for a push on the upper wing. The endless task of cutting and fitting small blocks continued. For the last few weeks the wing has been upside down. It was now turned over and the top side of the tank section was constructed. This included final shaping of the trailing edge bow. This bow defines the curved trailing edge of the wing over the front passenger. After sanding and shaping only about a quarter of the original bow was left. Aileron brackets were fitted and ailerons temporarily attached to facilitate finishing details of the aileron bays. The process of fitting the plywood leading edge was begun. The formed plywood was trimmed initially with a utility knife. Each section of leading edge material is about 48 inches long requiring 5 sections for the wing. The center section is fitted and epoxied in place. After curing the edge adjacent to the next section of material is skived providing about 3/4 inch overlap from one section to the next. Skiving the exposed edge is rather easily done with a sander. After trying several tools I settled on a Dremel for the initial shaping of the interior lap and used a sharp chisel for finishing. Finally the fiberglass wing tips were trimmed and fitted.
Building a Pitts 12 