Lots of things happened in the last week. My primer finally arrived, after only a month’s wait. Super Koropon may be a great primer, but I don’t understand why it takes PRC a month to crate and ship a two-gallon kit.

One thing I didn’t mention in the last couple of weeks is that I messed up the VS spar reinforcement plate while trying to cut lightening holes with a fly-cutter. That’s probably a result of not taking shop classes in high school.

There were some newsgroup debates about whether to cut the holes at all. The argument that makes the most sense to me is that lighter is always better, at least in RVs, and that 8 ounces saved in the tail could mean not having to eventually add pounds of weight in the baggage compartment to fix a CG problem.

Anyway, the new VS spar reinforcement plate arrived on Tuesday, and after using the old part for fly cutter practice, I was able to cut acceptable holes in the new plate.

A side note about pre-punched parts – I was concerned that the new plate would have some minor alignment problems with the spar itself, since I had already match-drilled the two. Well, the new plate clecoed right into place on the spar. Pretty impressive manufacturing tolerances at Van’s, I think.