Flaps finished! (kinda)

October 22, 2011 – The flaps themselves are complete. All that’s left on them is to drill the wing half of the hinges to mount the flaps. That will come after the ailerons are fitted and rigged.

I located roughly the halfway point for the hinges where I cut out the eyelets to allow for the two-hinge pin method of securing the flaps. The hinges are 56″ long, so I measured and marked at 28″

I removed that one eye in the flap-side hinge, and the two surrounding it on the wing-side half of the hinge. Then I marked where that would fall on the flap brace mounted on the wing.

Hopefully, the hinge cutouts and the flap brace will be situated so I can secure the pins cleanly. If not, I’ll just run a plate across a lightening hole in the brace.

I primed the flat surfaces of the hinges, especially because I wanted the mating surface to be primed.

Then I riveted the hinges to the flaps. No big deal; I was able to use the squeezer on all of them.

I set the flaps up in the wing trailing edges just for storage.

Time: 1:30