One of the skins fuselage skins was damaged. I did not contact Vans. I figured they would most likely resist sending me a new skin given the cost of the part and the shipping. Also, my sheet metal skills are getting pretty good and I felt I could repair the damage to the point where no one (except me) will know.

These are all of the photos associated with the construction of the fuselage.

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One of the skins fuselage skins was damaged. I did not contact Vans. I figured they would most likely resist sending me a new skin given the cost of the part and the shipping. Also, my sheet metal skills are getting pretty good and I felt I could repair the damage to the point where no one (except me) will know.

This is a picture of the firewall and a few of the brackets you are required to fabricate. I'll tell you, the fuselage kit has a lot of parts and it's not easy to locate them.

And yet, another picture of the brackets.

Here is the firewall laid out with all of the brackets, stiffeners, etc.

OK, It's late fall here in northern Virginia and the number of days when you can spray primer outdoors are becoming limited. So I am planning to do the following. One, deburr all of the parts just as I would if I were priming each of them separately. Two, use a brush on primer and prime between the mating surfaces of the parts that are riveted together to form an assembly. Three rivet the assembly together. Four, clean and prime the assembly when the weather is warm again.

In the photo, I have taped off where I needed to prime the firewall. There was one nice day when I was able to use "rattle can" primer to spray the part outside. That is why this paint is colored gray.

Here is the picture of the firewall with brush on primer. Note that I have only primed between the mating surfaces of the various parts. The brush primer is white

Here is another photo showing the primed firewall parts ready to be riveted together.

One of the skins fuselage skins was damaged. I did not contact Vans. I figured they would most likely resist sending me a new skin given the cost of the part and the shipping. Also, my sheet metal skills are getting pretty good and I felt I could repair the damage to the point where no one (except me) will know.

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