Well shoot.

When you bend the longerons, the curve needs to match a template cut from print 17 or 17A. Those prints are printed on extra large paper due to them being 17 zones long and needing to be actual size. When I got my fuselage kit, those two prints had been printed on the same size paper as everything else, which led to them being cropped to completely cut off the part that I actually needed.

Vans sent me replacement prints and this time they're not cropped, but they've been scaled to still fit on the same wrong sized paper. Different mistake, but still just as useless. I called Vans and Nancy is going to send them out again, so hopefully 3rd time's charm.

Since I'm not destined to bend longerons today, the next logical step is to work on the center section floor ribs.

The center 4 ribs get the lightening hole enlarged for the control stick assy, then the center two get a 2" access slot cutout and then made removable with the F-719B strap doubler riveted to the cutout chunk and screwed back in.

I believe these ribs are alclad, but just like the aft bulkheads, they were shipped without blue vinyl and they look like they were stacked outside in a junk pile for about 6 months before I got them. Since I'm permanently riveting doublers, it seemed like now would be the time to clean these up and prime them.

I straightened the flanges, enlarged the lightening hole on what will become the center 4, then deburred and spent about 4 hours scrubbing oxidation and random stains off of these them primed them.

The plans have you enlarge the lightening hole in 4 ribs, but only the center two get the access slot cut. The idea is that this slot is removable so that you can install the control stick components, then assemble the sticks, then bolt the slot back in the rib so the floor pan had something to bolt to.

The stick assy uses lots of washers for shims, and I can see how it would be a huge hassle to put it all together after it's under the floor and I'm standing on my head. Lots of guys put the same access slots in the other two modified ribs, which allow you to assemble the control stick assembly on the bench and then install it as a unit. Vans has approved this deviation, so I decided I was going to follow suit.

While I was waiting for primer to dry, I fabricated 2 additional F-719B doubler straps for modifying the 2 additional ribs. I also ran a tap through 24 nutplates that will get installed on the top of these ribs. Most of the time its a bad idea to tap nutplates, but Vans suggests it in this application.

Match drilled the straps, cut slots, dressed the edges and installed everything. On the first one, I had a senior moment and drilled for a #10 screw rather than a #8. No big deal, but it was a rookie mistake and it's annoying to have one with a different size nut than the other 3. Oh well, the only time that gets taken apart is to install the control sticks.

Got about 1/2 the nutplates installed before calling it a night.