As I had never taken a sheet metal coarse or set a rivet in my life, I figured it would be a good idea to do the Vans practice kits before jumping in on the emp. For anyone else starting out with zero experience as myself, I would have to say this was very much worth it. The first kit I did was the aileron piece (I believe this is used at many of the official classes as a starting project). While you don't get to do a lot of any one task, there are certainly a lot of things to be learned. Curving the leading edge proved to be the most difficult task for me, too much art and not enough science. I learned why people cover their bucking bars with something soft ... oh well, it was only the inside of a practice kit

. I tried out some self eching primer (after building a small painting chamber to keep the fumes at bay). Before putting the final skin on, I decided to drill out a bunch of rivets, very worth while, now I won't be so scared about doing it in the future when (not if) I muck up ones on the real kit. I had also bought a bunch of oops rivets and tried them out to see how it worked, it did.
The second kit I tried out was actually a whole lot easier, both in required construction and because of having completed the first kit. To make it more difficult, I tried to not only prime the parts, but give it a finish coat, all with rattle cans. I'll have to get a lot better if I even want to consider painting the outside of the plane myself, but I haven't even tried a real paint gun yet.
I have certianly learned that putting the rivets in is a very small part of the effort, getting the parts ready for that is where most of the time goes, but I don't even miss watching tv now

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