Rebel 808 update

[Tim Hickey]

It has been awhile since I posted any progress updates here, and for fairly
good reason. There hasn't been much.

There is a reason for that, and even though I am somewhat of an amateur
carpenter, and fully know and understand the 1st rule of carpentry, (measure
twice, and cut once) I failed to apply that rule one black day last May.

I was at the point of wing building where I was to cut out from the top,
rear wing skin the part of the skin that overlaps the thicker skin of the
fuel tank. In the manual it shows where to cut, giving a reference dimension
from the pre-punched holes, and as I laid out the cut lines I distinctly
recall that I was worried about making a good straight cut with shears. Up
to this point the majority of my sheet metal experience comes from my
building my Zenith CH-300 from plans. The CH-300 has 0.032 wing skins, and
that material is difficult to cut by hand.

With the worry about how to make the cut I committed the fatal error. I
marked the skin for the cut on the WRONG side of the pre-punched holes. I
had cut out a much larger piece of material than I was supposed to.

This confirmed one of my worst fears of building from a kit. That is if you
screw up a part, then you have a real problem. Especially given the current
state of MAM and parts orders.
When building the Zenith, if I screwed up a part, and I did more than once,
then it was not such a bid deal as I was building from plans, and could
just make a new part from some fresh stock.

I walked away from the project for the summer, and used the time to build a
40 x 68 "House Hanger" here on my place. We have some open ground, about
1300 feet long, and I hope to put a strip in there one day. I figured I had
better build the structure while I was still young(er), and be done with
that part.

After evaluating several options for the wing, none of which I particularly
liked, I decided that I would take the medicine and make a new wing skin. I
bought a piece of stock, 4 x 12, (bought it from the Zenith Company down in
Mexico, MO, strangely enough), and had it cut to width. Then I made a small
transfer punch, using a 1" piece of brass round, and a small diameter drill
bit sharpened to a point, and transferred all the holes in the old skin to
the new one. I had my doubts that I could accurately redrill all those holes
(there are over 1200 of them ), but it worked out surprisingly well.

I have installed it, and tonight I finished up cleaning the excess proseal
from around the rivets on the top of the tank, and with the exception of the
wing tip, I am calling this wing done.

I have yet to check the tank for leaks, as I want to let the proseal cure
for 7 or 10 days before I put any stress on it. But I think we did okay, I
have not yet riveted the rear wing skins to the ribs and spars, so if I have
to I can pull them off and have access to the seams on the tank.

So that is the story from here. I plan to keep chipping away on this
project, and not let it set so long in the future.

By the way, is there anyone out there who has yet to build the wings? I may
have a useful tip for them, (besides the measure twice part), but see not
point in writing it up if I am the last guy out here in the field still
building wings. With my serial number, 808, I doubt if there are many behind
me. But if there are, drop me a note and I will write it up.

Tim Hickey
2658 300th St
Montrose, Iowa 52639
Home 319 463-7047
Cell 319 795-2684




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