Today I woke bright and early and couldn’t wait to start the weekend by assembling the leading edges.
The work started by first dimpling the nutplates and then covering them in JC5A jointing compound. Once that was done they were cleco’d to the tank attach jointing plate and riveted in place. As soon as I tried to set the first rivet I realised I needed a third hand to hold the work piece. I popped it in the vice and that did the job nicely. 10 minutes later all the nutplates were riveted in place.
Next was to JC5A the flanges of the first rib and then Cleko it to the top side of the l/e skin. I repeated this process until all the ribs were in place.
Once all the ribs were cleco’d every other hole to the top I then gently laid the assembly in the wooden frame that I built the fuel tanks in. Then I cleco’d every other hole starting from the aft holes and working forward. The assembly soon nestled in place nicely.
Once both leading edge assemblies were complete I riveted the stall warner access plate in place using the hand squeezer. I also disassembled the stall Warner and torqued any nuts there. I checked the operation then reassembled with JC5A compound and cleco’d it to the left skin.
I then set up the rivet gun and compressor. I went ahead and riveted all the rivets in the right leading edge. This was surprisingly tiring but I got it all done with only two rivets drilled out and replaced.
I didn’t have time or energy to do the left riveting so I called it a day. I couldn’t resist sitting it in place as I left the workshop though. Looks great riveted and no clecos holding it together.
