In five sessions, mostly during the week in the evenings, I have got the bulkhead 95% assembled. No difficulties were encountered except for missing parts: the drilled bolt AN4-24 and castle nut for the tail extension pulley (step 2.1) and the thin washers AN4 for the bulkhead diagonal tubes (step 16.1-16.3). For the former I will temporarily use a normal bolt AN4-24A and locknut AN4 as the drawing and photos show (but contrary to the written instruction). For the latter I have used normal washers AN4 and they seem to work fine with two threads protruding. I have e-mailed Renee at PA for the missing parts. My hand riveter (Stanley MR100CG) was not up to the task of pulling the steel rivets for attaching the bulkhead upright support plate (steps 14.1-14.3) so they are just cleco'd in place until I get my hands on a small air compressor and rivet gun. No real surprise here as other builders have forewarned on this point. I had no idea that over 2,500 rivets would be supplied with the kit when I bought the hand riveter. I am impressed with quality of the materials encountered so far and the accuracy of the bolt holes and fits. The instructions are pretty good but do contain minor errors and missing info, but nothing that a little head scratching and trial and error didn't easily overcome. Obviously some of the photos are dated and don't match the written instructions and/or the actual supplied parts. I am using an AC Delco ARM602-3 3/8" digital torque adapter. This works great for the AN4 nuts and bolts which require 60-70 in-lbs torque. But for the AN3s which only require 15-25 the low end of the adapter's range of 36 is too high.
NOTE: Don't be like me and not heed the warning in Section 1 step 10 about the orientation of the Bulkhead Pylon Gusset. Also don't install the Actuator Mount Plates in Section 16 upside down... how did I ever do this?
