Done did dat Dome

Well not completely done but from a casual observer it looks finished. All the nice blue little panels are in place and I have to say it looks really cool. I've been picking away at it for the last week or so and trying to make up for something I missed. I should have drilled out a lot of holes on the inner skins for mini-bolts for attachment of the holos and logics. But what I did this weekend will probably work.

Before gluing the blue panels to the inner dome, I drilled holes and countersunk some small .40 bolts. Then the panels were glued over them and the bolts protrude from the inside giving me something to attach clamps or whatever to securely mount whatever needs to be mounted inside the dome. I probably put in about a dozen or so bolts. The key was countersinking enough so they didn't interfere with a flush fit of the blue panel pieces. Once I countersunk too much and the hole was too big for the bolt.

The body skins are next on my radar. There are different ways to paint the skins. Some people leave the inner skins unpainted so the aluminum shows through in the cracks between the panels. A nice look with good contrast. But I was thinking what if I ever need to touch up the panels. The bare aluminum is too hard to access to mask it off. And as there's no primer on it, going over it in white would be irresponsible. So touch up's would be difficult if not impossible. So I'll prime and paint the skins and prime and paint the doors and panels and THEN I'll glue the panels and doors to the skins. I've been thinking about this for a few months so I'm glad I finally decided.