A Step In The right Direction

Another productive weekend.  I installed the pilot entry step.  I had bead blasted and primed this with some rattle can paint last Monday.  As of Friday night it was still tacky so I brought it in and stuck it in the warming oven of the AGA overnight.  That did the trick.  Here is an external shot.  Eventually it gets an airfoil section put on it but for now it is just a steel weldment.

Some of the bracing where it penetrates the fuselage.

And the backside doubler on the floor rib.

I also primed the landing gear legs and stuck them in place.  The fit of these is amazing.  Quite a testament to the design and manufacturing of the kit.  Outside view:

And inboard attachment:

Got to remember to put a nut on that!

I decided to put a shelf aft of the cargo bay.  I will put the transformer for the strobe lights on it.  It is made from 0.040 2024-T3 aluminum.  I bent up a 3/8 inch flange for stiffness and to catch parts from rolling off the shelf.  If I install an autopilot the pitch servo will probably go here too.  Here it is laid out:

The diagonal on the right is a brace for the elevator bellcrank bracket.

And here it is riveted in:

The control sticks are in for good too.

I got the cargo skins in ready to be riveted.  I don't have a photo because the phone died on me.  The NY Times Sunday crossword puzzle took me almost 2 hours and it really eats into the battery life on a Sunday morning.  I'll have some shots later in the week.