One more round of priming done. There really aren't that many more parts that are going to need priming, aside from the canopy frame and a few odds and ends. Granted, there's still the interior painting to do, and let's not forget the fact that the entire plane has to be painted, but other than that...
I riveted the weather seal strips to the outer and center subpanels. Once I'm done fiddling around with all of the structure, I'll have to go back and put some proseal on the top and bottom between the strips and the subpanels. There's also a known issue in that there is no strip for the rubber seal to set on in the gaps where the canopy hinges are. I need to see how the hinges work before I can decide what to do there. I've seen other builders rivet in a little filler that connects the weather strips as well as goes up and over the hinge area and under the top skin. I'm sure it'll become clear once I see it all together.
I'm leaving the piece at the bottom of the center subpanel clecoed on for now. That's what the control cables attach to as they make their way to the instrument panel. They get attached with adel clamps which use nutplates and screws. Since I don't know exactly where my cables will route yet, it'll be easier to be able to pull this piece out and attach nutplates on the bench later. You can see where I cut off the ribs that originally went from the firewall all the way to the instrument panel. Those locations won't work for glass displays in the panel. After I lay out the panel, I'll rivet the ribs back on in a new location using a piece of aluminum angle, then screw them to the panel (makes the panel removable).
I stood back and proudly looked at my work from today. Then it hit me. I forgot that all of the rivets that attach the ribs to the firewall are flat head rivets. I forgot to dimple the rib flanges and the firewall before I put everything in place. There's no easy way to do it with everything in the plane, so I'm going to have to pull it all back out just to dimple a dozen holes.
