Work began on the upper longeron. The plans call for a bend on the longeron 2.5 inches forward of the back seat bulkhead. I checked my fuselage to see if the 2.5 inches was going to be the right number given there are so many variables that could affect it. Surprisingly, the needed bend is exactly at 2.5 inches. With the set-up longeron still in place, the fuselage side skin was trimmed flush as shown in image 2. An 8-degree bend was made in the longeron along with a 15-degree twist as needed to accommodate the difference between the forward and aft fuselage side skin angles. Dick mentions that the longeron will bend downward when you bend it inboard. It turns out that the amount the longeron bends down makes it exactly line up with the reinforced areas on the aft fuselage as shown in Image 3.
