Section 16 - Top Wing Skins (drilled, dimpled, countersunk, clecoed)

Final drilled wing walk doublers and inboard top wing skin to wing assembly, then countersunk holes in the top wing skin since this area won't be dimpled.  Dimpled the remaining top flanges of the rest of the ribs that do not contact the wing walk doublers, and dimpled all the remaining holes in the inboard and outboard top wing skins.

Inboard wing skin prior to countersinking:

Section 15 - Rear Spar (Completed, left side)

Finished the rear spar for the left wing; I'm spending more time in the shop than updating the blog, so this post will be brief.

Primed doublers and fork:

Section 15 - Rear Spar (aileron hinge bracket assemblies; spar doublers)

Started the Rear Spar (left side only) by spending an inordinate amount of time prepping the aileron brackets, and trying to figure out which parts of the service bulletin (SB) pertain to folks like me, who are starting the build process (and don't already have a flying airplane that needs the fix).

Parts for both the inboard (shown on the left; i.e., the SB) and outboard (right) were cut/trimmed as necessary, match-drilled, deburred, and primed:

Section 14 - Wing Ribs (Left side completed)

Made up some of the "lost" time this week by starting and finishing the Wing Ribs section (left side, only), and then completed about half of the Rear Spar section (next post).  My wife was extra-supportive this week, taking up all the slack around the house.

Bent flanges so they were all 90deg to the web of each of the 14 ribs:

Section 13 - Main Spar (Left side completed)

Lots accomplished during the first weekend after receiving the wing kit, including finished this section (left wing only, since I'm building one wing at a time), and starting Section 14 Wing ribs (mostly straightening ribs and deburring holes and edges).

Match-drilled long and short j-channels using pilot holes from main spar flanges:

Section 13 - Main Spar (Wing Kit Delivery and Inventory)

Finally, after waiting far too long (my fault, entirely), I received the RV-14A Wing Kit.  As was the case for the empennage kit, the outside of each crate was damaged ... but none of the parts were affected.  This is a true testament to Van's crating department!  Below are just a few shots of the nearly 8.5 hrs it took to open the crates, inventory all the parts, and put everything in their proper predetermined places. My guess is that this kit will be about twice the amount of work, as compared to the empennage kit.  Holy crap, there are a lot of parts.

Section 10 - Aft Fuselage (waiting....)

I'm still alive - barely hanging on - waiting for my wing kit.  As of tonight, it's somewhere near Omaha.  The delivery date moved from 2/15 to 2/22 today - argh.  To beat back my pseudo-depression, I cleaned and reorganized the workshop, and put away most of the tail feathers and tucked the aft fuselage in the corner of the workshop. All tools are finally put away in their proper homes.  There's nothing left to do but wait.  That's not my forte.

In the interim, I hung the horizontal stabilizer on the garage/workshop wall - it's still hanging a week later, so that's good.  My wife heard a loud CRASH in the garage last week, and thought it was this part falling to the ground.  Thankfully, it was just a spring that broke on our other garage door.