-- Wing Assembly

 Initial test assembly and fitment of the right wing without gluing together. One of the original ailerons is being used for alignment of ribs. All dimensions cross referenced with Monocoupe plans and original spars.

Initial fitup was done on saw horses. Later, a carefully built flat table, 16’ by 4’ was constructed to do a more serious fit of the wing parts along with drilling of the spars for the compression rib attach fittings. This setup was also used when fabricating the wing tip bows.

After the left and right spars were glued together the entire wing was initially assembled horizontally on saw horses. No gluing yet. Just positioning of ribs and bolts thru compression rib attach fittings. The entire wing was then lifted up on a jig into the vertical position. It took me about 6 hours of careful shimming, measuring and leveling to get the wing nice and straight. The ribs were then glued in place with 1/4” corner blocking. The wing was jigged vertically. I found the idea in the Tony Bingelis books and this is how my RV-6 wings went together. Having the wing jigged vertically saved a lot of room in the hangar.

Initial fitting of right gas tank. Leading edge piece has been cut to initial oversize dimensions and necessary scarf cuts made to connect pieces together.

Initial test fit of the right aileron to make sure it fits properly between the ribs and lines up exactly with the tip bow.

Additional nose ribs glued in place. Aileron spar glued in place. New right aileron fitted and hinges assembled. Wing tip bow glued in place and initial shaping completed. Initial fitment of the leading edge piece.

Starting to shape down the leading edge and the wing tip bows. About half way there in this picture. Most of the material was removed with two different long block planes. Also used a belt sander for some of it. Lots and lots of iterations and standing back to see how it looks!

The trailing edge piece is a single piece that goes from aileron bay to aileron bay. Pre cut to the proper profile on the table saw, it about 17’ long. It is glued to the ends of the ribs. I did this by myself.

It took a lot of clamps and some extra little jigging tools to get it into place and clamp it all up.

It's getting big!