Having slept on it, I decided that the inspection panels for the fin and rudder don't really need to be opened up again after the build inspection. So I removed some of the nut plates and once the structure is inspected by the MD-RA inspector, I'll be able to close them up, smooth the panel over and cover the entire section with fabric. I may keep the inspection plates for the stabilizer spar removable. After all, they will be on the underside of the stab and won't be as visible. Additionally, the loads on the stabilizer spar could be greater than the loads on the fin. Being able to inspect there may be useful. But then again, there's no inspection panel on that area on RV's and such. Sure, one can look into the RV stab through the root rib of the stab but you're looking through a hole that's only about an inch and a half in diameter and there's a fin in the way.

I used one of the cover plates for the lower section of the fin and realized that for an inspection plate, it's rather large. It would be suitable if one needed to fit their hands in there but it doesn't need to be that large for the inspector to view the structure. I made a second, smaller inspection hole for the section of the fin above the rib. It didn't feel right cutting into the nice smooth skin but it's what has to be done.

When I opened up the fin, I discovered that Ray, the previous owner, had signed it when he had done his work on the rebuild. Nice little memento there.

I cut 5 inspection holes on the underside of the stab and prepped them. I've also marked out an additional 4 locations if required by the inspector. Check out the fancy machined nut plate assembly. Beautiful machine work. There are some other nut plate assemblies elsewhere in the plane and they are simply nuts tack welded onto a steel plate. I think the airplane went through different levels of attention during the build. I'm guessing that early in the build there was a lot of this fancy machining. Later in the build, I think they were anxious to get it done and components weren't made as complex and expensive. They were still perfectly acceptable for its purpose, but not nearly as much time and effort to make each piece.