Fitting the Tank Skin October 9th, 2007
I first tried to assemble the ribs and fuel tank skin in a cradle, as called out in the manual. Pretty quickly I figured out it wasn’t gonna happen. The skin goes on so tight, I don’t know how you can make things match up in a cradle.
So, I decided to use the same method I used to fit the leading edge skin. I assembled the baffle on top of the spar, and clecoed the ribs to it. I also clecoed one side of the skin to the rivet holes. To keep the ribs from moving out of place when the skin is ratcheted down, I placed wood dowels between each rib. I made each little dowel to fit each individual rib, and yes, it was a pain in the neck, but in the end it was worth it.
Note that I tried ratcheting down the skin as shown in the two pictures above. I couldn’t quite make the holes match. I then switched sides — clecoed the top side and let the bottom side free — and tried ratcheting down the skin again. This time things matched up pretty well.
Here is the end result…
Finally, I went back to check the leading edge to tank fit, and it couldn’t be any better…
