I made the flap handles out of 3/16" aluminum stock per the plans. I have large hands, so I cut the handle a little larger than the plans show, so that I could make the grip portion fit my mitts. I ended up making it a little *too* long, and I had to cut off about a half inch.
The handle is bent at 25 degrees so that it curves inward to not interfere with the side of the fuselage. I made this bend on the arbor press using 1" steel rods to radius the bend. I could have made the bend sharper by doing the bend on the bending brake, but I didn't want it to be sharp enough to stress the metal. I really like how the finished handle looks.
To make the hand lock in smoothly to the rear (full flaps) detent, I had to snad down the back of the highest rivet on the spar tunnel a little, and I also had to work on the detent itself with some files and sandpaper to get a good fit because of the angle of the hand in that position. The handle now fits great and engages positively in all positions.
I also used several coats of black "Plasti-Dip" to put a rubbery surface on the handle grip area. I'm planning to do the same on the one brake handle in red so they will be easy to tell apart.
