Time to start referring to the plan numbers. Workshop was signed off yesterday and I pressed on with the VS. I did plenty of research last night and it seems that the trickiest part to this bit of the build is to get the skin to fit around the nose and tip rib. Vans say to radius off the nose but I read another builder saying that on the advice of an 8 builder it needs about 1/8th taken off with snips. I tried grinding a radius but on the first skin fit it was obvious that it wasn’t going to be enough. With my heart in my hand I took their advice and I snipped off the required amount and then use the Scotchbrite wheel to smooth it off – bingo, it fits and the #40 hole still has enough rib for clearances. Other firsts include fluting the ribs to straighten them up. Again, a bit worrying putting the fluting pliers to the metal but nice to see the ribs pull straight.
Primer ordered today from Aircraft Spruce via LAS Aero. Decided on EkoPrime with EkoClean and EkoEtch to prepare. Excellent tech information from Stewart Systems in the USA. Need spray gun etc.
Looks very nice, Chris. Looking forward to hearing how you get on with the primer.
Thanks Brendan, hopefully primer etc will have arrived by the time I get back home.