Modding lower skins at wing access plates

December 10, 2011 – One of the things that Van’s has you do throughout this kit is to dimple nutplates. This allows you to attach nutplates directly to the skin in some locations. I really have never liked that idea, so where possible, I’m adding countersunk doublers which are then attached to the skin and the nutplates are attached after that. One of the places I’m doing this is on the wing access plates. It’s probably overkill, but I prefer it this way.

I made doublers that match the inside of the recessed joggled area where the panels fit in the lower wing skins. I match-drilled them to the existing holes, then I added a #40 hole between each nutplate. I dimpled the screw holes in the new doublers, and I countersunk the rivet holes. I dimpled all the holes in the wing skins and the panels per the drawings.

Time: 4:30