Perfick!

As Pop Larkin used to say and it’s as good a way as any to describe the outcome of my day today. When I had a good look at the replacement aileron after picking it up from Ken’s the other day, I unfortunately found an area at the inboard end which had been rubbing on the aircraft on which it had been fitted. It had been worn so badly that for a length of about 1/2″ from the end, the metal had been worn right through. The rest of it, the trailing edge and all of the connecting cross struts, was all in good condition though, with the exception of the three hinge points which were also all quite well worn. On the other hand, the leading edge tube of MYRO’s damaged aileron, including the hinges, was still in excellent condition and it was only the tip tube, which is connected to the trailing edge, and several of the rivets connecting the cross struts that were broken.

So the obvious conclusion, which I came to the other day, was to make one perfect aileron out of the two naff ones and that was why I ordered the items I needed for the job off Ebay on Thursday. However, they didn’t arrive in time for the week-end, so I went out today and bought the same things locally. The good thing, of course, was that I was able to see what I was getting in advance and the amount of money involved was pretty trivial compared to the importance of getting the job done.

The job was tougher than I originally expected because not only must the trailing edge of the aileron end up straight when you look along it but it also mustn’t ripple from side to side (or up and down if you can imagine it fitted in its proper position). I started by stripping everything off both ailerons’ leading edge tubes and then tried mating up the trailing edge tube and cross struts from the replacement aileron to MYRO’s aileron’s leading edge tube. It was a case of almost but not quite so then I had to swap some of MYRO’s original cross struts over (none were actually damaged, although I didn’t need any from the outer-most end which had taken the biggest knock) and I even made one up myself by shortening an old longer one that was no longer required using the existing one as a pattern. In the end the job came out perfectly and I was very pleased and also very relieved at the same time because this was more or less the last ‘tricky’ job still outstanding. Here are a couple of shots of the new aileron mated up with the replacement wing trailing edge tube.

I phoned Chris during the afternoon to see if he could inspect both items today so I can press on with the re-assembly but due to a family bereavement he couldn’t. However, I’m hoping to get them over to Stoke first thing in the morning while things are still quiet so I’ll be able to press on if I can find a bit more time during the week. Not long now, hopefully, before I’ll be thinking about getting MYRO inspected for re-permitting. I can’t wait and to be honest, I’m finding the job pretty tiring now and I’m looking forward to having a rest at the end of it 😉