Got both leading edges clecoed together over the last week. It’s kinda nice to see some good visual progress with not a lot of work.

Left leading edge clecoed

I spent a little extra time making sure that the ribs were set correctly. If they aren’t fitting as snugly as possible into the leading egde skin, the ribs’ rear flanges may push the leading edge away from the spar, resulting in a gap between the leading edge skin and main skins. A little effort pulling rivet holes into alignment with a 3/32″ punch before clecoing will pay dividends later when fitting the leading edge to the spar.

Having mentioned that, I couldn’t eliminate the gap completely on the right spar but it’s reduced enough so that skin expansion during riveting should close the gap almost completely.

The next step was fitting the leading edges’ inboard ribs and tank joint plates. I discovered that the joint plate stock material Van’s shipped was a half-inch too short…d’oh! Had to wait a bit while (free) replacements were shipped.

Both leading edges mounted

With the joint plates mounted and leading edges drilled, it’s on to the fuel tanks.