Tonight I went to Omaha to attend a EAA Chapter 80 meeting.  I was not sure what to expect as I have never been to one of these meetings.  The meeting was very upbeat, relaxing, and the members/guests loved talking about airplanes.  I AM IN THE RIGHT PLACE>>>  WooHoo!!!  I met Kevin Faris, fellow RV-7, whom I had only had e-mail correspondence with when I posted a e-mail to the Yahoo RV-7 group and he found out I lived in Nebraska.  Kevin and I ended up talking RV's long after the meeting was over (if I recall correctly, until about 1:45 am and we both had to work the next day....)

I was amazed at how willing people were to help when I mentioned I was working on a RV-7.  I got hooked up with Bob Harvey, who was one of the chapters technical counselors.  He didn't even hesitate when I asked if he would come down and inspect my project and I live over 70 miles away.  My project will cost him over 3 hours of his personal time in driving alone.

Very nice group of people.  They have a web site at the following address:

http://www.eaa80.org

Before going to the EAA meeting, I was able to get my leading edge cleco'd together.  This skin fits REALLY TIGHT!!  If you look at my last log entry, I posted a picture of how far off the pre-punched holes were after I started getting some of my cleco's in the skin. 

After I got the skin cleco'd on, I noticed that I got a slight bulge in the skin near the forward edge of the leading edge.  This is a 0.025" skin and fairly heavy so to get a bulge here means there is definitely some pressure of the rib against the skin.  I am not real happy with the fit of the leading edge out of the box.

Here is the inside of the leading edge skin.  The red arrow is pointing at one of the "knuckles" of the rib flange that appears to be forced into position.

From the other side, the rib flange doesn't look too bad.  When I went to the EAA meeting I mentioned my trouble with how tight this skin fit to the ribs.  Several builders have experienced the same thing.  They recommended to take the ribs and run the "knuckles" through the scotchbrite wheels a couple of times and that will remove enough material to minimize my fit problems.

Before I final drill these holes, I am going to try this, but proceed with extreme caution.

After I got the leading edge sort of together, I wanted to see how it fit to the wing.  Then I ran into my second problem.  Even though my wing stand posts are 114.5" apart, the aluminum angle I used to clamp the wing to is in the way.  You can see how the main wing skin extends past the edge of the wing spar.

My stand is far enough apart to move the spar over to clear the aluminum angles, but I have everything clamped down, aligned, and have removed my wing twist.  It is going to be easier and quicker to take out the die grinder and notch the aluminum angle.

You have to look closely here, but you can see how the lower aluminum angle will interfere with leading edge skin.  When you mount the wing to the stand, ensure the aluminum angle on the wing stand is at least 3/4" from the edge of the main spar and you will not have the interference problems I am experiencing.

I took a rotary burr bit and started notching out the aluminum angle.  This was not as easy as I thought it would be.

Below, the picture shows a piece of scrap aluminum I placed between the spar and the aluminum angle I am notching.  As you can see, the aluminum angle took a beating.  I am glad those marks are not on my spar.

Alright, I am notched and ready to see if the leading edge will fit on the wing.

Yep, plenty of room to spare.

Finally, all those parts in the garage and beginning to resemble a wing.  After I notched the aluminum angle so that I could position the leading edge, all the leading edge to main spar pre-punched holes lined up perfectly.  This pre-punched kit is the only way to go!!!

Just another shot from the bottom side of the wing.

In the picture below, the arrow is pointing to the pilot hole Van's puts on the bottom side of the leading edge skin for the wing tie-down.  It looks like it lines up really well.  A hole to drill another day.