I've been a little busy the past few weeks. Mostly working on the frame and cutting here and there so the detail parts fit and getting those parts primed and painted. Inner skins are cut also to help give me an idea of where I need to trim the frame. For some reason when I was fitting the skins on they seemed a little too long.. like about a 1/4" too long. I double checked how deep the grooves were cut on the upper and lower rings and they're at 1/2" like they should be. Skins fit properly around the body so my guess is that the ribs might have been trimmed too short. I made up the missing measurement by adding 1/4" piece of birch to the bottom of the frame which seems to have worked out well.

Since the upper cross beam in the front was too thick instead of the 1/4" that it should have been.. I decided to try and work with it and trim out the section where the utility arm would be sitting. I'll be adding small block of styrene on top for the LDP to sit on when I install that piece.

Other spots that needed trimming were the top ring where the LDP sits, the areas where the octagon ports sit in the front and back and the pocket vents.

Frame build-up

For the past week or so I've been busy cutting, routing and putting the frame together. Finally got all the little joints glued up and she now has a nice sturdy body to work on. Next step.. skins.