Today, I took the final items over to my painter -- The rudder, elevators, and wing root fairings. While I was there, I checked on his progress. New projects underway are: 1. Canopy skirt has been DA'd (dual-action power-sanded) and is ready for primer. 2. Belly of the fuselage has been DA'd. 3. Cockpit totally masked. 4. All wing root wiring, fixtures, and holes have been masked and/or plugged. 5. Pedal access port has been masked. 6. Forward baggage compartment has been masked. 7. Filling and priming continue on the upper cowl and wheel pants. 99% of the pinholes have been eliminated, and there's one more coat of primer/filler to go. Everything's looking great. We discussed the line of rivets along the bottom edge of the boot cowl, which he thinks will benefit from a skim coat of filler and some sanding. He'll be taking care of that shortly. He also reiterated his commitment to help me "win an award" with this airplane, for whatever that's worth. I'm really impressed with the level of expertise he's gained over the past ten years, and I'm happy he's doing this project. Even if it never wins an award, I think it will be a nice airplane, and that's all that matters.