Today I spent a few hours in the shop making a tool for "smooshing" the ends of tubing evenly. Even though I didn't use it for this portion of building, I will in the future, especially for the tail feathers.
I took the cross tube that I smooshed yesterday and fit it to the longerons. It fit just fine and will accomodate the landing gear reinforcing straps. I went ahead and did the same for the cross tubes at stations B, D and E. I post-heated them after forming and allowing the ends to cool overnight. I'll fit them in the morning.
Just so I don't mess up the ends, I labeled each tube as to the bottom (smooshed side) and the direction of fit. Since the longeron stations are identical, I can flip and rotate the cross tubes to fit them properly, then place them back to their original position. This way I don't have to guess how they look underneath. Don't worry, E is correct. I just wrote the letter on the opposite side of the forward direction arrow.
Cross tube modified for landing gear reinforcing strap
