15 Feb 2026 - 4 hours
This is actually a combination of a few days of work. I cleaned the ribs with soap and a scotchbrite pad just in a little plastic bin, and then took the big leading edge skins up to the shower and did the same thing.A few days later, I cleaned the parts again but with lacquer thinner to get any oils off. Finally, I started priming the parts. It was just barely above freezing in the garage so I put the heat on in the little plastic booth. It's pretty miserable spraying in that thing and I only got one wing done. Fortunately, the next day was spring-like! It got up to the mid fifties outside and was sunny with a nice gentle breeze -- that meant I could do the spraying outside!
Ribs are done.
Leading edge done. I'm not using the correct settings on the gun so the primer is coming out in bigger drops than I think it should, leaving a very orange peel surface, but it is covering the metal, and this is all inside the wing so not visible. I cleaned the gun so I don't think that's the issue. It's probably not enough air but my terrible little compressor is basically maxed out so unless I get a new bigger one, this will have to do for now.
After it dried for a bit, I clecoed all the ribs into the leading edge skins, making sure to get the tank attach strip on the inboard rib as well.
The leading edges are ready for rivets!
