(Pages 17-02 through 17-04) Gimme some (wing) skin, part deux

I cleco, therefore I am -- a new philosophy called Existential RVism

After the exercise in frustration that involved cutting the hole for and installing the landing light, skinning the right wing (I did that one first rather than the left as shown in the manual so I could see just how bad the landing light looks) was a walk in the park.  As was the case when I skinned the stabilator and rudder, I was surprised when all the rib holes lined up with the holes in the skin,

considering how much straightening and fluting had to be done to the ribs.  I was always able to pull the holes into alignment with an ice pick and awl, allowing clecos to be inserted.  The key seemed to be starting at the leading edge and going hole by hole with the alignment tools.  As I've always done, I primed the mating surfaces before joining. 

The pneumatic rivet squeezer has always been my favorite tool, and I made ample use of it (my first one wore out after the first few thousand rivets, found a great but cheap one on the aviation aisle at Harbor Freight).  I also bought from Aircraft Spruce their new design for cleco pliers which has the handles rotated up ninety degrees from the jaws.  This works much better on the horizontal wing surfaces, keeping the wrist in a natural position.

The bottom and top skins went on surprisingly easily (with the exception of the landing light), it's just quite tedious when you consider the process: align the holes, insert the clecos, remove the clecos, insert the rivets (about 70% of which require running a 1/8th-inch punch through the holes for final alignment/reaming), pull the rivets, repeat a few thousand times.

If you've ever been in my office, you'll probably notice a resemblance between my office and my shop in the first picture.  I use the same organization scheme in both.