Fitting Left leading edge w-408 rib - 4 hours

It was finally time to finish preping the W-408 leading edge ribs. I slid one rib into the leading edge assembly and marked the holes with pen to give me an idea of where to flute the ribs.

I then transferred those marks over to the other rib. It was not time to double check the flanges were 90 degrees. I broke out the rib straightener and made some adjustments.

I then fluted the ribs. The left one went well, but the right just gave me brain damage. Not the easiest to work out. I was satisfied that it was sorted out, but not a perfect as it could have been. In any case, I fit the left rib into the leading edge assembly and clamped the rib to allow match drilling the aft flange with the spar. It came out pretty nice,



I then clecoed it back into place.

Next it took me some time to figure out where/how the w-423 joint plates come from. I finally noticed the note on drawing #12 section F-F. going into my inventory I found the 2 AS3 strips. I slowley worked it out that these do not need to be cut down. The are the correct length to begin with.
I then came up with the idea to fit then around the rib to double check the correct fit and also to pre-bend the strip. This turns out to be a fairly important step. I made sure to even out the slight overlap on each end and mark it.

 Then....I followed the plans to fit the joint plate in. The process for me was quire slow and lots and lots of adjustments back and forth to get just the right fit. I then started to match drill and cleco. Checking and re-checking as i went.


A long process...But extremely nice on how it turned out.

Stall Warning Hatch - 2.5 hours

I started in on sorting out the Stall Warning hatch. I little bit of thought goes into as the kit is designed to be an add on to an existing plane, but there a few steps that you can skip as they are not applicable. The supplied template is just scrap because the left leading edge is prepunched with the correct hole locations.



Not much to report for the hatch. The holes did not need match drilling (I made sure for each hole anyway) so I buffed the holes, deburred slightly, and dimples for the screws. I then went to work on countersinking the holes for the rivets that hold the platenuts. These are done by hand with the deburring tool and take some time to fool around with and get right. I DO NOT want to countersink too far. I opted to use the NAS Opps rivets for these rather than dimple them.


I did a trial fit of the hatch cover over the area, and I must say that there is quite a gap all around. Not sure that I am too keen on the fit. Maybe I need to make a new custom hatch??