I need to do a little more research about how I want to put the pitot tube in (mostly how I want to route the tubing around the bellcrank and to the hard pitot lines). I decided I may as well move on to something else for a bit since I'm still waiting for my canopy parts as well. I ordered a whole mess of electrical supplies this week. I figure making wiring harnesses will be a pretty good cold weather kind of task this fall/winter.
Most people are adamant riveting bottom wing skins is a two person job, but I've also heard quite a few people say they did most of it themselves. Why not give it a shot! I still have to install the pitot in the left wing and the autopilot servo in the right wing. I already have the servo bracket in place on the right, so the servo itself can easily be installed after the wing is closed (it's right behind an access panel). It'll be easier to finish up with the pitot routing without the skin permanently installed though, so I'll wait to close the left side up until the pitot is done.
The instructions say to lay the wing down flat on a table and have a riveting partner stand over the wing on one side while the bucker reaches inside from the other. I can see that working well for two people, but it seems like it would be a tough position solo. I don't want to completely overhaul my space to move the wings to the workbenches either. The only way I want to move on to riveting the wings is if I can do it without moving them around too much. I slid my workbenches out of the way just enough to get to the right wing. The outboard skin was clecoed on at the rear spar and about 1/3 of the way forward. It's too far to reach under the flat skin to buck and shoot, but if the skin is bent up a little, it's supposedly doable for us long arm folk. I laid a piece of scrap across the aileron hinge brackets to strap to, clamped some wood to the bottom edge of the skin and used straps to roll the skin up.
