Prepunching on the tank skins

tshort · Post by **tshort** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:33 pm

Did all of your tank skins come prepunched for the stiffeners?
Mine did; I ordered a replacement L skin 'cuz I made some cosmetic errors on the L one and I could get it shipped for free with my QB kit from Partain. The new skin does not have the stiffener holes prepunched.
I know, I can drill them on my own, but I'd rather not have to lay it all out and try and get straight lines if I don't have to. Just wondering if you guys all had the stiffeners punched or if this is maybe an older skin?

Thomas
-8 wings

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:41 pm

All mine came prepunched. They must ship the NOS to the replacement guys! Can't include it in the new kits because it'll throw off the instructions, I guess!

This way, they can get rid of the old stuff with minimal support, I think!?!

Anyone got any other ideas?

CJ

bmurrish · Post by **bmurrish** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 5:15 pm

Mine were prepunched. Are the rib holes drilled? I believe the old school stuff didn't have any holes drilled at all so not so sure about them being NOS.

RV7Factory · Post by **RV7Factory** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:08 pm

Thomas,

Can you lay the old skin inside the new one and use it as a guide to drill the holes. The holes might be 1/8" or so further aft, but I doubt that would matter much, and you will surely never be able to tell.

Edit: If the old skin is trashed, just cut out the section with the stiffener holes to use as a guide.

JohnR · Post by **JohnR** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:20 pm

I wonder if maybe thye changed the position of the stiffeners or the hole pattern at some point. If so they might provide skins that are not punched so they will not be wrong if you have an older kit. Just another possibility.