• Aileron leading edge assembly
    Aileron Section 22 Wing
    Sep 19, 2021

    The aileron leading edge assembly goes together pretty simply. The first minor issue I ran into was that the leading edge holes that are drilled into the stainless steel counterbalance only line up in one orientation of how the counterbalance bolts up to the leading edge A-1004-1 ribs. I somehow managed to flip the counterbalance around after I already match drilled one hole, and now I have an extra hole in the counterbalance unfortunately.

    The other item to note is that the stainless steel is pretty hard to cut through. I ended up using some tool oil when drilling, and still manage to toast at least one bit. The bits also tended to walk a lot, despite center punching the match-drill location. Fortunately, everything was final drilled to a considerably larger size, and any initially oval-shaped match-drilled holes did become true after final drilling.


    The last item of note was that the leading edge skin wanted to bend out a lot when placed on the cradle when assembling the forward portion of the aileron. I ended up having to tape it in several places in fear that it would crease itself given how extreme the bend was.