When I first fit the ribs inside the skin, it looked like there was no way that the nose ribs were going to fit. They seemed way to big to fit inside the skin at the leading edge. I emailed pics to vans and then spoke with Tom. It pretty much boils down to....... just get a pair and bend the skin. It will work out fine.
I started by laying the clecoed rib and spar structure inside with the skin opened wide. Now the fun begins. Start clecoing from the aft spar and work along the end rib towards the front. I rolled the bottom skin up from the rear to help the front fit as I continued to cleco. Work the center and outer ribs the same way. The top will magically fold into place without alot of drama as you bend it down and start clecoing from the front to rear. A helper will simplify the operation. I was able to do it by myself without too much excitement.
You will notice that the most forward hole in the skin does not have a matching hole in the rib. Vans does this to allow for minor self aligning of the rib. Just drill it out later when it the plans call for the rest of the skin to be final drilled.
