Matt's RV-8 Project



Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date:  6-28-2009
Number of Hours:  1.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Adding The Left Fiberglass Wing Tip - Part 01

The installation of the left fiberglass wing tip went surprisingly well. Tasks involved included cutting the mounting flange on the tip down to 5/8" (thanks to a great suggestion from Uncle Bob, using that compass with a pen taped in worked awesome at marking a perfectly straight line!), drilling the mounting holes through the wing skins into the fiberglass tip, cutting a large notch out for the aileron to clear, adding the end rib, cutting down the trailing edge of the fiberglass tip to match the aileron, cutting a mounting hole for the position light/strobe light, cutting the clear plastic lens to exactly the right size (arg!), adding mounting screws for the lens, connectorizing all of the wires for the landing light, strobe light, and position light, adding 40+ platenuts to the fiberglass tip for mounting to the wing, dimpling the screw holes on the wing skins, riveting on the end rib, and finally, screwing the wing tip to the end of the wing. Whew, that was a lot of work! About 12 hours all in all to do one wing tip.

I'm extremely pleased with all aspects of how the fiberglass tip installation turned out. The strobe/position light mounting came out really nice as did the cutting and installation of the plastic lens. The alignment of the aileron to the tip is also just about perfect. Its hard to fully appreciate it from the photos, but the alignment of the wing tip's mounting step to the wing skin is literally perfect. Quite frankly amazing...
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Marking Flange Down To 5/8

Marking Flange Down To 5/8"

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Flange Marked & Ready For Cutting

Flange Marked & Ready For Cutting

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Cutting Flages Down w/ Dremel Cutoff Wheel #409

Cutting Flages Down w/ Dremel Cutoff Wheel #409

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