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Hi all,

I'm in the middle of fitting the top skins of my flaps and perhaps one of you
could help to clarify the proceedure for best final fit...

The bottom skins are hinged to the wing, all linkage attached and with the help
of electrons, the range of movement is -7 degrees(faired in) to +40. I have a
trial fit of the upper skin as follows...

With the flap fully extended to 40 degrees, I place the upper skin in relative
position and slide it both forward and up so that I end up with an even gap of
about .0625 along the entire flap LE. As the flap is retracted, all is well until
about 5 degrees where the upper skin LE then contacts the back of the rear spar.

If on the other hand, I place the flaps in their fully retracted position and
then slide the upper skin into place so that the LE is just in contact with the
rear spar, I end up with a substantial (and unsightly) gap when flaps are dropped
to 40 degrees.

Since I've never had the opportunity to look closely at a completed installation,
I'm not quite sure of what to expect.

Question: With full flaps, is it normal to have a gap between wing TE and flap LE
upper skin? Also, this gap is much larger at the root and decreases going
outboard. One of the plans, either I or J, shows a gap of about 9/16 so maybe
there is no way around this issue.

Angier Ames

LML website:   http://www.olsusa.com/Users/Mkaye/maillist.html
Builders' Bookstore:   http://www.buildersbooks.com/lancair

Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.