Wings done! Part 46.....

 Finished the other flaperon.

Another 1000 rivets down.  I am now part way through the last box of LP3-4's!

Done... 

I am now officially waiting on finish kit to ship.

Wings part 45

Installed the leading edge skins on the left flaperon tonight.

First you rivet on the outboard nose skin.

Then the inboard nose skin.

And finally the center nose skin.

One flap complete. Amazing out stiff this thing is after the nose skins are riveted on.  As long and narrow as it is, it does not twist!  I showed my wife how small the bracket is that actuates this long flight control and even she was surprised.

I am not installing the hinge bearings at this point to make it easier to store these things without causing damage.

Wings part 44

Back from San Antonio and working on the flaperons. 

First I riveted these hinge brackets to the nose ribs.

And then riveted them to the spars along with the other half of the system that slides into the slot on the flaperon torque tube.  These being pre-made saved a ton of work!

Then I riveted the ribs to the spar.

And the other nose rib.

And the tie down brackets.  Again, these being pre-made saved a ton of work.

Then I riveted on the counterbalance assembly.

And the other tie down bracket.

Rinse and repeat for the other flap.

Then I riveted the aft skins to the structure of the right flap.

They have you use these special fuel tank baffle rivets due to the clearance issues with the rivets being on opposite sides and close together.  I don't care for these rivets because they end up deforming the skins a little bit and the stem does not always break off flush.

Break time - Army Reunion

 This weekend we are flying to San Antonio for my reunion with my Army buddies that I served with during Operation Desert Shield/Storm.   I have not seen some of these brothers for more than 32 years!

Remember freedom is not free!  It is because of the sacrifices made by folks like these that allow us to be able to do many of the things we do and take for granted!

This is just one of the 8 troops we had represented.  This was my troop "T" for Tomahawk troop.  We were the maintenance troop for the squadron.  My MOS was 67T which basically means I was a BlackHawk crew chief/door gunner/mechanic.  

All of the wives that attended.  They are very special to be able to put up with us!

Due to the venue we did not get a group picture this year.  Here is last year's picture.  We had somewhere around 70 troopers this year which was a big increase over the past years.  

Several of our squadron's officers went on to have great success in their careers.  We have a two star as well as a one star general and several full bird colonels in our group.

We also had the honor of serving with Command Sergeant Major Patterson whom is a Vietnam era Medal of Honor recipient. Citation Here

Wings part 43

Scrubbed all these parts for priming.

And then primed them.

Wings part 42

Finally got all these parts prepped.

Wings Part 41

Still working on the flaperons.

Had to cut these hinge brackets out.

These are pretty thick and need some serious deburring.

All done.

Got to work on deburring all these parts.  There are a ton of holes and linear inches around all those skins!