Rob Phillis

Rob clamping flap leading edge skin

The skin clamped in place

Bending the skin with band clamps and soaking the plywood with water

Gluing the skin in place with staples in a 'nailing' strip.

Staples are used to clamp the skin in place during gluing. These photos were my first attempt using the flap/aileron structure as a forming jig. This was not entirely successful as it is necessary to over-bend somewhat to allow for springback. You may note the multitude of staples in the leading edge, all without a nailing strip. This was because the springback was so severe that the staples couldn't get enough grip when going through the extra thickness of a nailing strip.

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