Work started on the aft fuselage on 3 November 2007, after I polished all of the components built to date. This polishing job took a few weeks of hard work, but is worth it in the end. The aft fuse vertical channels don't take long to fabricate and are pretty straight forward as are the splice plates that need bending. The left and right are opposites and parts 2-4 have the same hole patterns, meaning I marked out the first one and used it as a template for the others. Don't let the photos fool you, as only the verticals 1 and 5 get a 1" hole. The rest get a 3/4" hole. I only realised this later in the marking out process when I re-checked everything. Really easy to screw up if you don't pay attention. Fortunately, I caught this before cutting out the holes.

The angle longerons are also easy to cut, but make sure you measure twice and cut once. When attaching to the skin, make sure you take note of the 1/32" gap required from the forward bend line, as without this gap, the forward fuselage won't fit properly. Also, the bottom longeron is set back the width of the bottom skin. I simply used a bit of scrap aluminum sheet to set this depth - too easy. The access holes and rudder cable exit slots need to be cut out of the skin - note the left and right side locations are different. I used my Dremel tool for this job, which made it a breeze.

Cutting the holes in the phenolic block was OK, just a bit slow as the drill head kept heating up. I kept the whole block together during the drilling process as this made it easier to manage. Once the holes were drilled, I cut the squares with the band saw.
More to follow when I've rivetted the vertical channels to the fuse sides.