Lessons Learned

I'll record some of things I have learned along the way that might help others.

Materials

• It pays to plan your shipments. Two rolls of 4x12 aluminum sheets are about $50 to ship. So, think about what you need and can store, and think about smaller items that might fit in the same box with it. I think they'll ship three rolls of aluminum together, but call and see what the max is. I spent way too much on poor planning. Of course, all of these needs to be balanced with having to store materials if you order a lot at once.

Workshop

• Tools.  So far, the Harbor Freight Rivet gun, Bench Grinder, Arbor Press, Drill Press, Benchtop Sander and an old cordless Dewalt drill have been fine.  The Harbor Freight air shears are great too (especially on the .04 and .032 stuff).  I mostly use my large hand shears though.  Nice tools are great, but don't let expensive tools be the reason you never get started.  My craftsman bandsaw is plenty.  If money is a concern, buy cheap.  If you use it enough to break it, then buy a better one.

• Building in a one car garage has been fine so far.  I'm sure I'll need to get creative at some point, but it works, and don't lose a year of building trying to figure out what you'll do three years from now.  Life has a way of changing things on you anyhow.
• Get your workbench right and over-build it.  Mine shifted and sagged, and slowed the project down while I had to straighten it up.  I would use something more than a 2x4 to attach the top to.

Wing

• Leading edge.  The method in the build manual works.  Bend it with a 2x4 and a friend.  I did it alone.  It took gymnastics and I ruined one (buckled), but it worked and would not have buckled with more hands helping.  The vacuum bag method is probably good, but it can be done way faster with a 2x4.

• Riveting.  Avoid oil-canning - follow a proper rivet pattern for riveting skins and make sure your air compressor psi is properly set for your gun.  I think there is still a lot to learn here.

• Wing tip spar.  Make your flanges on your tip spar big enough so that you can have a nice straight line of rivets from root to tip when you rivet the skin.  Pulling a string down the length of the spar is a nice way to get a straight line reference too.

• Point G (small trailing edge tip rib) - Think about your holes here and how to use one hole to fasten the parts that meet here before you drill.

• The aileron is hard to shape for a rookie.  Rent the brake or find someone to bend it for/with you.  
• Don't forget your tie down anchor nuts before you seal up the wing (I had the "opportunity" to drill out some rivets so I could go back and add mine.
• Have a plan for how you will mount the fiberglass tips and the aluminum cover where the wings bolt on before you get rivet happy.