Hrs: 3.5

Bottom skin right wing issues

I was not happy with the bottom skins of the right wing.

First issue is that the skin is bulging between 2 areas.

On the VAF forum I saw some posts that pre-heating the skin can work to get the skin straight.
I checked the temperature range:
– 50-70°C is the temperature when the sun is shining on a car or plane on the ramp
– more than 100°C would harm the heat treatment of the 6061-T6 aluminum skin

I removed the rivets in that area, heated the skin with a heater (used an IR temperature gun to control the temperature) and like ironing I removed the bulging:

I forgot to prime the mating surface of the outboard bottom skin where the leading edge skin overlaps.
No issue, that can be done afterwards with use of a paint roller.
But while preparing the mating surface I was thinking about the issue with oversized holes in the outboard skin and the way to repair them:
– upsize to 4.8 rivets
– use Proseal to “glue” the skin to the main spar / leading edge skin
– use JB Weld to fill the enlongated hole

The solutions are more for repairing an airplane and not building a brand new airplane.
I talked to TAF and they are willing to send a new skin without the holes that don’t align so I can drill them myself with the strap duplicator.
Great service from TAF.

So instead of priming I will remove all rivets of the outboard skin:

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