In this section I want to talk about final assembly of the aircraft itself.   In the other sections, I have discussed building the parts, now it is time to put them together.  You could say this is the “Some Assembly Required” section.

There really isn’t a perfect order, but you can click here to see what I would recommend as a good build sequence.  When I got to this point, I had the following assemblies completed and sitting separately:  fuselage, wings, both stabs, elevators, rudder, and flaps.

I started my final assembly by attaching the empennage.  Since the fuselage was still low to the ground, sitting on a crate, the leveled fuselage didn’t get too high into the air.  I could still reach everything for the empennage from the ground.  You will have to determine when it is the right time to rig the elevators—you may not want the pushrods running through the fuselage just yet.  Here is when I installed the fiberglass intersection fairing.  The timing isn’t critical, any time after the empennage is installed will do.

Next I installed the landing gear.  It took a little to raise the fuselage up enough to make room for the gear, but it is easier to raise it with the empennage on, than to wait until after the gear for the empennage.

Hanging the wings was next.  I did this with the plane on its own gear.  Since I had already done the fitting with the fuselage resting on the crate, it was pretty easy to slip the wings on.  By using the tooling holes and the W-730 bellcrank jig provided in the kit, I was able to rig the wings without having to level the plane.

Hanging the flaps took a long time.  It was another of those cases where I had to install, measure, remove, trim, and repeat.  I took it slow, removing a little metal at a time.  I wanted to ensure I had a good fit to the fuselage and also wanted the pushrod hole as small as possible.

Once the flaps were fit, I was able to make and fit the wing and flap fairings.

I now have everything put together, and am working on the engine.