FIRST STEPS

I managed to crowd in about two hours of work today.  Job #1 is building the template for fabrication of the panel that covers the aft bulkhead.

This the beginning of that process.  The first objective is to get all the curves correct. The template will be built up in pieces so I don't have too many variables to deal with for each section.

These pieces are now very close to correct.  I need to work a little bit more on the passenger's side (the left side in this photo).  The pilot's side is perfect.  The above is the result of two hours of climbing in and out of the cargo area, which is a bit of a task for an old fat guy. 

The next step will be to work on the curves for the top part of the panel.  Once that is done I will cut a strip to finalize the bottom.

I am doing all the fabrication before stripping off the old paint because I want to keep the airplane flyable as deep into the process as I can.  Once the strip and paint process is started the windows will need to be masked (along with some other things) and the plane will be grounded until the upgrades are complete.