Left wing main skins on, bottom match-drilled, leading edge cradle built

I had some expert help today removing the blue vinyl from the inside of the leading edge skins:

Next I put down the sheet metal tools briefly and built the plywood-and-2x4 cradle to assemble the wing leading edge assemblies. First I traced a W-709 rib on 3/4" plywood,

Then I cut out the first rectangle, traced the rectangle on additional plywood, and clamped the 2 blanks together.

Then a couple quick turns of the jigsaw, and voila!

I modified this slightly from Vans' prints, but the jig sits outside the rivet lines and seems a bit sturdier than what's recommended.

Next I cut two 1.25" strips of carpet to cushion the jig; one

And two

And two screws later on the outside of the jig, and we have a cradle!

And here it is...cradling. Excellent.

With the woodworking out of the way, I finished match-drilling the bottom of the right wing, and traced intersecting lines to locate the tie-down bracket on the right wing.

I also got the left wing skins clecoed on (man, do I need more 3/32" clecos!)

And after match-drilling the left wing bottom skins, I traced intersection lines for the tie-down bracket there, as well.

With the match-drilling of the bottom skins complete, I removed them to free up clecos & allow me to break down the spar crate, making more room to work around the wings.

 Another productive day! I need to finish up match-drilling the top of the left wing, then I'll be able to scrounge some clecos to assemble & drill the leading edges. All of a sudden it seems like we're flying along... I wonder what I'm forgetting?

 

Wings: 4 hrs