Using the vacuum method as detailed in the video by Jim Carlson and Jon Gauger, bend the LH leading edge skin. Cost about $17 for the piece of pipe, and $2 for a couple of rolls of masking tape, about $4 for two tailpipe clamps to hold the pipe in place. Had the plastic sheeting. Worked really well as far as the bend radius is concerned. Was able to "tuck" the bottom half of the skin under the lower aft skin without any straps. Will use straps to get the skin tight to the lower half of the ribs, though. Ended up with a few dents in the center of the upper portion of the skin from my first attempt at using masking tape to ratchet the two halfs of the skin together. The trick here is to use many pieces of tape - I ended up using 3 pieces per rib space, and also to go really slow with drawing the skins together. It's really tempting to draw the two ends together quckly, leaving a farther-open portion at the center, but this difference in bending gets taken up by buckling of the skin near the center. I'll try working out the dents a little with a spoon-like burnishing tool, but other than that I'll go with it as-is.
Skin taped together with pipe in place.
Vacuum was so quick, this is the after photo.
After unwrapping the plastic and releasing the tape.
