Battery box and empennage fairing: 1 hour

• I'm using 2 Shorai LFX18 lithium iron batteries (2.3 lbs each) to provide starting and backup power. I had originally planned on making my own aluminum battery boxes but today I found a small machine shop that makes an enclosure for this battery. This will save a lot of time even with modifying it with a bolt on bar to hold the battery. 
• These batteries offer a huge weight savings over the standard lead acid battery. Van's lists the standard battery and mount at 23.5 lbs. My 2 batteries and mounts should come in under 7 lbs. 
• I also removed the empennage fairing from the fuselage. I'm happy with the intial results .

LFX-18 battery box:

Empennage fairing progress:

Empennage fairings: 4 hours

• Primed lower gap fairings and countersunk holes on fuselage
• Riveted gap fairings
• Drilled empennage fairing to vertical and horizontal stabilizer
• Outlined fairing on fuselage then wrapped in wax paper
• To fill the gaps in the empennage fairing I put down layers of fiberglass cloth followed by a flox mixture. I also laid down extra fiberglass cloth to wrap the fairing under the leading edge.
• After that I prepped the fairing with 36 sand paper, dust off and acetone wipe. Then I pressed the fairing in place and clecoed
• I also added more fiberglass cloth on top of the fairing around the wrap around area

Fairing curing:

Fairing outlined:

Gap fairings riveted in place:

More empennage fairing work: 3 hours

• Continued work on the lower gap fairings including: more fitting, opened holes to 1/8", countersunk fuselage for flush rivets, dimpled fairings, etc.
• Started initial trimming and sanding of upper fiberglass fairing. I cut the back of the fairing off because I will be using an extended aluminum access panel to cover the rear section.
• I researched techniques for fitting the fiberglass fairing. I'm also planning on adding some fiberglass to the front of the fairing to wrap it around the underside of the horizontal stabilizer leading edge.

The rear open area will be covered by a custom access panel:

The upper fairing is close but will require some work to look good:

Horizontal stabilizer gap fairings: 6 hours

This work was done over several days:

• Worked on lower horizontal stabilizer gap fairings
• Mine are going to be riveted to the fuselage. In order to achieve a very close fit I had to make new fairing strips using the factory supplied pieces as templates.
• I did the right side first and it was a slow process to get a good fit. The left side is almost identical to the right so I just used the new piece as a template and it went quickly

Left side gap fairing:

Using the right fairing as a template:

Right fairing:

Paper template for the curve:

Misc: 2 hours

• I trimmed and flared the end of the fuel line that connects the right wing tank to the fuel valve. I did one practice trim on some scrap because this line only needed about 1/8" removed. Also the line is difficult to remove from the fuselage so I did everything with it in place. I cleaned out the line with compressed air and alcohol when finished.
• I installed 7 click-bond wire tie clips in the fuselage. I had originally experimented with small wire clips bonded on with e6000 adhesive but those came loose if you put much pressure on them.

Click-bond, bonding:

Right fuel line finished:

Ready to trim fuel line:

Internal rudder stop: 2 hours

• Drilled and reamed holes for mounting the internal rudder travel stop in between the lower rudder mount brackets.
• I also temporarily hung the rudder. I need to adjust the rod end bearings then the rudder stop will require trimming to get the correct travel.

Starting rudder rigging:

Internal rudder stop:

Flap clearance on fuselage work: 2.5 hours

• When fitting the flaps I found the the left flap needed some additional help to clear the fuselage in the up position. To make this work I cut a "clearance" hole.
• Today I fabricated the skin patch and a spacer ring. I also primed the pieces then riveted them in place.

Fuselage patch and spacer ring riveted in place:

Fuselage patch and spacer ring ready to rivet:

Mounted vertical stabilizer and flap work: 3 hours

• Mounted the vertical stabilizer and torqued all bolts. Dad was over for a visit and it was much easier to position everything with two people. (This was done on Monday)
• I removed 4 rivets from each flap end bracket and replaced with flush rivets. When fitting the flaps I found that they would just barely rub the fuselage in the up position. Converting some rivets to flush gave me additional clearance.
• After riveting the conventional flush rivets and Cherry-max pull rivets I reprimed the end brackets.

Getting ready to set the Cherry-max rivets:

Vertical stabilizer in place, also checking the fit of the empennage fairing: