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July 2004
The closing of the wing stubs finally happened. I started by going through all the nuts, replacing each one with a new nylox, torquing them and hitting them with a dab of torque seal. Next came prepping for bond by sanding and cleaning. I had already fit my wing stubs in position, clecoed them and trimmed the outboard edge to establish an even gap front to back. I then built some braces from the flap slot fairing to the aft spar. It was an idea I picked up from Ron Brice and will give a bit more strength to the step area, that and stiffen the trailing edge. I made it from prepreg and three-bid. Super simple.
The bonding was easy and just like closing the wings at the factory. I positioned popcicle sticks in between the flap and trailing edge. The manual calls for bonding this area later, but I think this the only way to do it right. After pulling the clecos, I was rewarded by a nice even gap, so there. The layups along the leading edge and between the skin and fuselage were completed and the thrilling last chapter of filling and sanding begins!
I got a set of the wing fillets Ron Jones made. After seeing these on and off repeatedly I can say that the Legacy does not look right without them. They do make the plane. So far I have spent about 30 hours bodyworking them to a finished state, but spending 30 hours of regret had I not added them would have been worse. They are that nice. I'm back to using AeroPoxy Light and loving it. It's unbelievably light and is a good filler. Much better than micro. As with any filler, if it is thicker than 1/8"-3/16", it needs to have a thin layer of fiberglass over it prior to priming. That will insure against cracking later. The most important note on this filler is to really mix the part B (red stuff) well before mixing with part A (white stuff). If it's not mixed right it won't activate the curing.
So it's sanding, filling, sanding, priming and more sanding. BUT I'm almost done with this bodywork. And couldn't be happier. Very tedious, but needed if doing a nice plane. Once the wings are done, so am I. I'm looking forward to doing the mechanical and assembly work. That goes fast and progress seems to be measured much better.
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