Once everything was match drilled and after the mistakes were handled, prepping began on the many pieces assembled over the past week.  Edge deburring is my least favorite and takes a lot of time and effort, especially on these formed pieces.  But it is important and accomplished after a few nights of work.  Dimpling and priming the skins went quickly and riveting won’t be too far behind.

One interesting part of the build is the special tools that are required.  The latest one is a bending aid made of wood used as a clamping block for the side skins.  Each of four skins needs a rounded bend placed in them to transition from the tail cone / firewall to the more boxy part of the fuselage.  While I could have made it on the table saw at home, I elected to enlist a fellow aviator with a wood working shop rivaling the New Yankee workshop by Norm.

Just like most projects, preparation is 75% of the work but we set all the tools up and made the block of wood into the trapezoid shape required.  When put in use, it took a lot of grunting to get the skins bent.  A rolling and bending motion is used to form them and I was pretty lucky with getting a good result with the first attempt at each one.