I finally unrolled the .020 skins that have been in storage for probably a year and cut the top rear fuselage skin to size. I made a change from .016 skins specified in my plans to the slightly thicker ones. Less puckering and better finish. I think they specify .025 for this area now because of those very concerns. Although I had dreaded this procedure for a while, it turned out to be a piece of cake - very simple. I marked a center line on the skin, drilled 3 pilot holes, clecoed it to the bulkheads and used my digital level to set the 84-degree angle specified for the bulkheads. Next I'll be drilling those longeron rivet lines to final size and temporarily installing the horizontal stabilizer so I can get an idea of the area of the skin to be cut out. Wow. Mounting the horizontal stabilizer. You got yourself an airplane then. I picked up four 3/4" tubes for the fuselage and canopy tubes in Dallas. I guess the next step is to bend those into their specified arc. I also got my plexiglass canopy from Brett Hanley in DC. He sold it on Ebay because he's changing to the 650-style canopy. I won the auction and saved myself a ton of cash in the process.
