CHAPTER 14 - Assembling the Spar

The hardest part of assembling the spar was cutting the tapers on the spar strips. It would be nice if these came pre-milled, but instead I spent about an hour with a band saw and then several hours with a vixen file. Cutting the lightening holes was simple by comparison.

The next big task was making all the angle stiffeners. While I was at it, I made the stiffeners for the ribs, as well. Then the appropriate spreader bars were countersunk and the spar web dimpled. At the same time, I dimpled and assembled the fuselage bulkhead.

With all the pieces in hand, I test assembled the spar. As you can see, it took up a lot of space on the kitchen counter. Since everything fit, it was off to the painter to be primed and then back home for riveting.