Here we're putting in more nutplates. We just clecoed one side and riveted the other, then went back and put rivets where the clecos were.

...a shot from the back side.

OOPS! Apparently we were going a little too fast here. Gotta drill this sucker out and replace him. :-)

I started doing the countersinks for the access covers. I got partially done and realized my countersink cage was marking the surface of the spar flange. I had recently bought a set of four used countersink cages off E-Bay. They seemed fine after I disassembled, cleaned, regreased, and reassembled them. I hadn't noticed that the faces of them weren't polished like the original one I got from Cleaveland Tool. Dang! Well, I just spun the cage with my drill and lightly touched the face of it to the spinning ScotchBrite wheel in my grinder. The face polished up nicely and none of the other holes I countersunk had marks around them.

I went back and filed out the marks near the edge. I figured those little nicks could be crack starters, so better safe than sorry. The gold anodize is really hard! Even a hardened file doesn't want to bite through it. I'll prime these exposed spots before putting the skins on.

...another spot where I filed out some marks.

Update: I talked to Bruce at Van's. He looked at the pictures and he indicated there would be no structural issue with these marks.

This is what the backside of the nutplates look like. I've been trying to get used to my new pneumatic squeezer. It's kind of bulky, but if I can get good at using it, it should save a lot of time.

Here I've cut the aluminum bar stock for the tiedown spacers and am getting ready to put in the lightening hole with my unibit.

The hole is supposed to be 1" in diameter, but my largest unibit only goes to 7/8". I figure it's close enough. I actually calculated the weight penalty. About 1/3 ounce for all four pieces. I don't think it's worth spending the extra $15 on a new unibit. Maybe I'll change my mind before I assemble them. Dunno.