What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Wing installation to fuselage

Rv8bill

Member
My 8 QB fuselage fits in my 2 car garage but space is limited. Would like to keep my project at home for as long as possible. I'm not ready yet but am wandering if the wings can be installed at home. For those who have installed them, can the wings be installed outdoors with all the rigging, alignment, & ancillary work accomplished, then removed so the project can moved back into the garage? Is this practical?
 
Wings

My 8 QB fuselage fits in my 2 car garage but space is limited. Would like to keep my project at home for as long as possible. I'm not ready yet but am wandering if the wings can be installed at home. For those who have installed them, can the wings be installed outdoors with all the rigging, alignment, & ancillary work accomplished, then removed so the project can moved back into the garage? Is this practical?

Totally. As long as the fuse can be leveled both pitch and roll. No problem
 
Thanks Larry, My driveway is level enough that I can add blocks to ensure everything else is level. I probably have enough room to install one wing at a time inside my garage. Again, is this practical and worth the effort? Cold weather is coming!
 
It took 2 days of measuring and calculating to be sure, but I was actually able to mount wings and tail feathers in my basement!!!! It looked pretty crazy, but it worked. I had just enough room between the wall and the wingtips for it to be practical. Talk about limited space! I'll try to find the pics.

I'd suggest you make sure it's not doable in the garage. I'm sure many more skilled folks have gotten the wing mounting and rigging done in a day. But not me. I did not want to rush it.


The HS needs to be on for some measurements for the wing mounting.

There's a lot of very detailed and important work (incidence being the most critical) to be done. For the actual mounting I measured, read, re-read, measured some more, for the better part of a week before I actually drilled any holes.

The point is, I would be prepared to have it in your driveway for a while.
 
Last edited:
My driveway is level enough that I can add blocks to ensure everything else is level. I probably have enough room to install one wing at a time inside my garage. Again, is this practical and worth the effort? Cold weather is coming![/QUOTE]

If you assemble both wings to the fuselage outside and after getting it aligned, drill the holes for the rear spar, it is then set. You can take it inside and add one wing a time and do the rest.
 
Thanks. My wife and I are competing for garage space. I certainly have the lions share, but it will only accommodate one wing at a time.:)
 
One thing you may be able to do is turn the fuse perpendicular to the garage door and mount one wing sticking out the garage door. This is helpful because your garage floor is probably much more level than your driveway. Also, you can mount the “inside” wing the night before doing all the rigging, and just mount the outside wing the next day.

If you do this, pull the breaker any time you have a wing positioned under the garage door.
 
There is one builder in Socal who mounted the wings in the driveway but was able to push the whole plane inside his garage by positioning the wing diagonally to the corners. I have a small garage so I will do the initial wing fitting and rear-spar drilling in my driveway.
 
Forgive me

Forgive the question. I'm building a Rocket (based on an RV-4), not an eight.

Do you have to set sweep, incidence, etc. and determine fore/aft attach points or are those preset/predrilled/etc on your kits?

I ask because the fuse structures aren't that rigid. Wouldn't the asymmetric load of a single wing install create issues?

Sincere question from someone with no familiarity. For my benefit, obviously. Thanks in advance.
 
Forgive the question. I'm building a Rocket (based on an RV-4), not an eight.

Do you have to set sweep, incidence, etc. and determine fore/aft attach points or are those preset/predrilled/etc on your kits?

I ask because the fuse structures aren't that rigid. Wouldn't the asymmetric load of a single wing install create issues?

Sincere question from someone with no familiarity. For my benefit, obviously. Thanks in advance.

I think it would be best to have both wings mounted when you rig the wings and drill the rear spar which sets incidence and sweep. You probably could do it one wing at a time, but I think the risk of messing it up would increase.
 
Wings

I've heard it done, but I wouldn't. The measurements would make you crazy. Put one on, level, measure, remove. Put the other on. Repeat. Calculate the changes. Put the other on. Check measurements.
I had room to put mine diagonal in the garage. It took quite a bit of time to get all the measurements dialed in.
 
Buddy did his in the driveway. No problem.
Think he got it done in one day, then moved back in the shop.
 
I was building my 8 in the basement of a industrial company with a huge door to the employee parking. I waited until there was a long weekend (during easter break we are off from thursday to tuesday).. So I could take the fuselage and wings out in the parking area to do this work.

If you have the wings already on there are several things you can do, which makes life easier on the airport:

- Setting the wing incidence and drill the rear spar.
- Attaching and drilling the forward tank attachments
- Rigging the ailerons and flaps
- Find the proper spot for the flap fairing and drill / rivet them in place
- make the fuel connections to the fuselage
- fit the wing- fuselage fairing skins
- check and mark the position of the wires / pitot lines exiting the fuselage towards the wing (dont forget the foot wells of the pax they go quite low and in this spot you can`t properly exit the fuselage... don`t ask why I know)
- Make the upper gear leg fairings

So plan enough time if you want to do those things at home where you have access to all your tools.. otherwise you have to do those things at the airport... I was very happy to have done most of the things listed above.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_7931.jpg
    IMG_7931.jpg
    226.9 KB · Views: 177
Last edited:
Back
Top