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I cut two 12” lengths of 3/4” piano hinge for securing the canard doghouse. The lower portion was riveted to the FG canard flange (old “RV” school: clecos, 100 deg counter-bore, 426-3 rivers – three different lengths needed given the varying thickness of the the FG flange, and squeezer – kinda fun). The upper hinge required a spacer of about .10”, so I cut some strips from FG sheet stock. I used just three rivets to hold the spacer to the hinge, but then drilled #30 holes every inch for the “pop” rivets that penetrated the inner shell of the doghouse. The spacer was also bonded to the inner shell. Thr trial fits looked great, but after riveting the pop rivets, the upper hinge pulled itself away from the lower hinge line. That is, the final fit did not go well. I spent about an hour bending tweaking each individual hinge eyelets to get the pieces to nest. I'm still not really satisfied and will give it another “go” later. Also, the front of the doghouse raised about 1/8” or so which will require build-up on the nose. The aft split-line looks quite good however.

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