I really struggled with the whole wrestling match to get my ribs clecoed into the wing leading edge skins. After a ridiculous amount of time, I got them. One day later, it was time to start the tank and go through the same cussing match! I didn't think it was possible, but the tank seemed even worse. No amount of pushing or squeezing got the holes even close to matching up with the skin.
I was just about to call it beer thirty, when staring at the curve in the leading edge skin and how it differed from the rib's curve, I had the epiphany. Maybe it's well known, but I hadn't discovered one very simple difference in approach that turned the torture into a complete non-event. From what the instructions described (9A), my original approach to the assembly was to plop the skins into the cradle, put the ribs in place, cleco the nose of one side of a rib, then trying not to destroy the ribs, attempt to push the nose down hard enough to get a cleco in the opposite side. That was a very wrong way to go!
It turns out the trick is to ditch the cradle at first. Place 1 cleco (only 1) on the top side forward most hole. Then, with a support under the leading edge of the skin, ROLL the rib down and into the skin, basically like you're trying to pivot it away from the top side of the skin that you just clecoed. This rolling of the rib vs pushing straight down made all of the difference in the world! With very little effort, the bottom hole lined up and was easy to cleco. After that, the next couple of holes were no problem at all. Once just a few holes were clecoed, then the skin did need to go into the cradle to do the rest. Rolling ribs into place like this literally made assembly a 10 minute task. I won't embarrass myself even more by saying how long I had struggled with it prior to this!
Anyway, maybe a very well known way to go about this, but thought I'd mention it since I sure wish someone had told me! One cleco on top, roll the rib in away from the side just clecoed, one cleco on the bottom, then go to town with the rest. Trying to brute force the rib by pushing it directly into the bend was just an awful approach.
I was just about to call it beer thirty, when staring at the curve in the leading edge skin and how it differed from the rib's curve, I had the epiphany. Maybe it's well known, but I hadn't discovered one very simple difference in approach that turned the torture into a complete non-event. From what the instructions described (9A), my original approach to the assembly was to plop the skins into the cradle, put the ribs in place, cleco the nose of one side of a rib, then trying not to destroy the ribs, attempt to push the nose down hard enough to get a cleco in the opposite side. That was a very wrong way to go!
It turns out the trick is to ditch the cradle at first. Place 1 cleco (only 1) on the top side forward most hole. Then, with a support under the leading edge of the skin, ROLL the rib down and into the skin, basically like you're trying to pivot it away from the top side of the skin that you just clecoed. This rolling of the rib vs pushing straight down made all of the difference in the world! With very little effort, the bottom hole lined up and was easy to cleco. After that, the next couple of holes were no problem at all. Once just a few holes were clecoed, then the skin did need to go into the cradle to do the rest. Rolling ribs into place like this literally made assembly a 10 minute task. I won't embarrass myself even more by saying how long I had struggled with it prior to this!
Anyway, maybe a very well known way to go about this, but thought I'd mention it since I sure wish someone had told me! One cleco on top, roll the rib in away from the side just clecoed, one cleco on the bottom, then go to town with the rest. Trying to brute force the rib by pushing it directly into the bend was just an awful approach.
