XL Wings First Trial Fitting.

[Shay King]

Hi Guys,
With help from my wife today, I offered the wings up to the fuselage top brackets for the first time. It didn’t go too badly. There’s slight misalignment in 3 out of 4 of the bolt holes, about the depth of a thread maximum I’d say. I didn’t ream them out yet because the brackets are only tack welded and might move again after finish welding. Wingtip to tailpost measurements differ by only 3mm which I’m happy about.
I’d be grateful if you experienced builders could look at the photos and say if you think reaming would be acceptable.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I would try another hole to see if more of them line up just for grins. One thing.. it's hard to see from the picture, but it looks as if one of the bolts on the fittings might be short? You need at least 1 thread beyond the nut. Nice work.

[Shay King]

Thanks for the reply Chuck. Those bolts are just for trial fit and are not the correct length. I’ll be using new hardware for final assembly.

[Chuck in Indiana]

One other thing. To help with assembly, get some all thread. It will be under size by a few thousandths. Cut it a little longer than the bolt needs to be, and turn or grind a bullet nose on it. You can then drive them through the fittings with the "real" hardware, and the bullet nose will help align everything.

[DA Miller]

Shay,First off I'm no expert but I have built a few things and I'm still here to talk about it. Second, I wouldn't do anything until you've done the finish welding.  You actually have 8 holes and 5 of them seem to  be fine. 2 of the 3 bad ones are so close to being perfect that you have to really look  to see the imperfection.  If it was my plane I would use a rat tail file and relieve 2 of the holes to allow the bolts to pass. Even the 4th hole is not all that bad. I'd probably use the file on it too. The holes in the wood are ok.  That's where I'd be concerned about the hole getting wallered ( Indiana technical term) out due to the slop. One thing you might try is inserting the bolts from the other side. You might get lucky.  Anyway with the "luck of the Irish" the wings probably won't fall off.   You asked for thoughts; these are mine.  Keep plugging away.  Possum

[Shay King]

Thanks for the advice guys, it’s much appreciated.
I think if I were doing it again I’d drill just one hole in the brackets at the wing roots. The front holes in the forward brackets and the rear holes in the aft brackets.
Then, at final fitting, it should be easy to drill through the bushings and get the remaining holes perfectly aligned.