been busy

Right aileron bellcrank at Atlee Dodge, getting hole moved over 1/2 diameter, as the spar was slightly misdrilled - and it's easier to match the steel to the wood than to deal with making more or bigger holes in the wood.

Jury strut attach bracket - installed.

Butt rib - whimper. Realize I can trammel the rest of the wing first, leaving the gas tank and first bay wires for last. Feel better, without resolution.

Gas tank - needs to be shimmed when it finally is installed. Gas caps found, put away again until time to work on it. Tubing to protect tank and drag / anti-drag wires from chafing found, cut to length, wrapped on tube for left wing. (Right is hanging up, will get it when it comes down. have material, life is good.)

tie rod tube - installed. Rear spacer between sides of read spar attach bracket also installed.

Aileron cove FINALLY DONE! Now I just need to figure out the gas tank installation, fabricate the front spar strut attach bracket spacers, tie rod, and butt rib, get the aileron bellcrank back from Atlee Dodge, and I can finally effin' trammel the wing and start nailing ribs.

Landing / taxi light bracket - adjacent ribs uninstalled, swapped, and reinstalled in correct configuration (I'd wonder how I missed this, but it's not obvious). Bracket parts and pieces and old wire bundle located, assembled almost correctly, all parts accounted for or noted as missing. Bracket cleaned up, new bolts, nutplates, and replacement springs found. Rivets drilled out, parts cleaned up, main bracket pieces hammered lightly back into shape, sanded, cleaned, primed, painted. Plexiglas-support pieces in tank to get the layers of varnish, primer, dope, corrosion, and grime off tomorrow. Plexiglas past saving- will deal with that later. Wiring harness for left wing measured, puzzled over, set aside until bracket is reassembled and ribs are nailed in place. Absolutely no way in heck that harness is being reused. No sign of actual landing/taxi lights; will figure that out when I get to the harness.

So not thinking about the right wing, which was trammeled - but that'll be off as it still needs the front & rear spar attach bracket spacers, the tie rod, the butt rib, and the first bay drag wires to be removed, the chafing-protection tubing installed, and then the right gas tank and all it plumbing... then trammeled again. No, not thinking about that. much.

Incoming parts - die to cut tie rod threads, nylock nuts for the tie rod (there's a story there), another helping of love and patience from my near-saintly supportive husband, who keeps me from losing patience and metaphorically torching this whole damn plane sometimes.

Why is it that I can do all this in less than a week, and still feel no closer, and like I didn't get anything done? 80% done, 80% to go...