Spent an hour and a half in the shop but really didn't achieve a great deal. In fact, I only ticked off one single item in the instructions and that was rivetting the two nutplates onto the F-805D brackets!
However, I did drill the fuselage skins for the aileron boot retaining rings. This entail removal of the forward two rivets in the mid-longeron and drilling out to #27 for #6 screws, along with two additional holes so there will be four nutplates in each side. I was wondering how best to countersink or dimple the skins for nutplates when I realised that the forward floor isn't riveted on but held on with screws. So I decided to fit the nutplates to the retaining rings and screw from the inside. Yes, I realise that now I will have to remove the forward floor to remove the aileron boots but the likelyhood is that I'll also be removing or wanting access to the aileron pushrod attachments anyway, which are under the forward floor. Of course, it isn't cut in stone yet as I haven't drilled for nutplates so I may yet change my mind.
I then started looking ahead in the plans and noted that we would be fitting the throttle quadrant housing. Since other 'mods' have cost me so much time I wanted to check how much extra work the DJM throttle quadrant would cause me. So I got it out and went ahead and assembled everything. I was pleased that it pretty much a plug-and-play item. I did note that the cutout in the top panel was wider than it needs to be (for me) as it allows for a third (propellor) lever, which I don't have. I shall rivet some sort of blanking plate in there I suppose. I took a couple of photos to go with this log entry, since I didn't really do a whole lot else!
