Initial Prep (Debur, Trim, Drill, and Cut) 7/17/22 – 0.9h 7/18/22 – 0.5h There are just a handful of parts left in the bin for this step in the build including two landing light brackets and four landing light lens backing plates. The backing plates are arch-shaped, and the rounded ends required some additional filing to remove the machining marks from making the curves. The landing light mounting brackets do not have any tight corners or difficult access for deburring. Deburring the brackets and backing plates didn't present any new challenges. [Hole and Edge Deburring Tools, 6” Cut and Polish Wheel, Small Rounded File] Final Prep (Dimple, Countersink, and Shape) 7/18/22 – 0.9h The 3/32” holes (#40) in the backing plates and landing light mount bracket have to be dimpled for the installation nut plates a few steps later. Each of the 4 backing plates gets 4 nut plates (total 16), and each of the 2 landing light mount brackets gets 2 nut plates (total 4). The plans also state that one full shipset of nut plates should be dimpled according to Section 5.16 of the plans. Section 5.16 simply says to use a reduced diameter female dimple die to avoid damage to the nut plate screw hole. One shipset includes the nut plates for the backing plates, landing light mount brackets, access hatch, and splice strips. The total nut plate requirement is: 4x K1000-3 16x K1000-06 20x K1100-06 34x K1100-08D 4x MS21053-L08 The MS21053-L08 nut plates were a little tricky to dimple. The dimpling process bent the nut plates slightly, and I had to try to straighten them back out by hand. They came out mostly straight, but they aren't real pretty. Perhaps dimpling with a full-size male and reduced diameter female dimple die would work better. Something to think about for next time… [Pneumatic Squeezer with #40 Reduced Diameter Dimple Die] Prime 7/19/22 – 2.8h 7/20/22 – 1.9h 7/21/22 – 1.2h 7/22/22 – 3.1h 7/24/22 – 1.2h 7/25/22 – 1.7h 7/27/22 – 0.6h 7/28/22 – 1.2h 7/30/22 – 0.5h 8/1/22 – 0.5h 8/3/22 – 0.7h Most of the time on this page was devoted to priming, and finish painting for the first time. I did not prime any of the parts from the previous pages in this section, so things kinda stacked up on this page. After getting all of the parts and nut plates dimpled, there is a step in the plans that says, “For those builders preferring a finish such as matte black or gloss white inside the landing light coves, now is the recommended time to apply finish paint to the” landing light brackets, mounting plates, and ribs and skin areas that make up the landing light coves. I decided to go with a Matte Black finish, and went with the Rust-Oleum paint since that is the primer I'm using. After applying the first primer coat, I let it dry and scuffed it up with a worn maroon Scotch Brite pad. The scuffing process makes the primer coat more even, and allows a second touch-up coat to take hold. I degreased all of the primed parts, and completed the minor touch up areas without any trouble. I decided to follow the same process for the final color (black) coat. First scuff the primed parts, degrease the parts, and spray on the black paint. The paint went on one side at a time, as opposed to my all-over approach with the primer. I didn't want to take any chances of marring the wet paint by flipping the parts over for the other side. [Grey Scotchbrite Pads, Bon-Ami Cleanser, Dupli-Color Degreaser, Rust-Oleum Automotive Self Etching Primer (Green – Rattle Can), Rust-Oleum Automotive Matte Black Paint (Rattle Can)] Assemble 8/8/22 – 1.3h 8/9/22 – 1.8h The final step on this sheet is installing the nutplates on the landing light lens backing plates and mounting brackets, access hatch doubler, and splice strips. I started with the landing light lens backing plates because they are small and easy to handle with the pneumatic squeezer. That is ideal to ensure the squeezer is set up correctly. I used a cleco clamp over the screw hole to hold the nut plate in place and protect the hole from squeezer damage. I moved on to the access hatch doubler next, since the doubler and backing plates are made from the same thickness of aluminum. The squeezer didn't need any adjustment, and I used the same technique with the cleco clamp to hold the nutplates in place. The squeezer setup for the splice plates was the same as the other parts, and I used the same approach to holding the nut plates in place with the cleco clamp. The nut plates at each end of the splice strips were a little different, with the screw hole at the end and two rivets next to each other. I found that setting the inside rivet first worked well to ensure no interference with the outside rivet. I attached the final nut plates on this step to the landing light mount brackets. The brackets are made from thicker aluminum than the other parts in this step, so I had to adjust the squeezer to set the rivets properly. The same technique using the cleco clamp over the screw hole to hold the nut plate in place worked well on the mount brackets, too. [Pneumatic Squeezer, Flat Squeezer Set, Cleco Clamp]