Tonight started out with some exciting (not really) deburring of the tail cone j-channel stiffeners. They are long and awkward, but I was able to get them deburred on the scotch-brite wheel.
Next, I had to mark some lines on the stiffeners that will be used to align everything when it gets put together. Each stiffener needs a line basically drawn down the center the long way. The best way I could think of to draw these lines was to make a small jig to hold the sharpie as I slide it down the j-channel. It ended up working well, and everywhere I double checked was right on the money! A few more quick marks and the stiffeners were done.
Next was the longerons. These are 98 1/8″ long pieces of angle aluminum that run the length of the tail cone. First, they needed to be cut to length. After that, notches need to be drilled/cut out for some brackets. Then the longerons need to be bent to a pretty precise angle to match a slight bend in the tail cone itself. This was accomplished by following the process described in the plans, where you basically put the angle in a vice (at a line that I had measured out) and beat it with a mallet until it’s at the right angle. Took me a few times to work my way up to the full bend as I didn’t want to over bend.
