It is amazing how some sleep just makes you feel so much better. I was really exhausted last night when I got home, and I really should have just fallen into bed and turned off the light… Instead the laptop got powered up and I found a friend wanted to talk about some bad news he had got. I could hardly say I was too tired, so I kept talking for a while…

Yesterday the plane got most of the top skin on at the rear finally. This is a job that we had all been dreading – there were images of me needing to crawl to the end of the fuselage tunnel holding a lump of metal inches above my head whilst the rivet on the other side was hit with a rivet hammer in a most sadistic manner. Thankfully we found another way. We turned the plane 75% of the way upside down, and I kneeled down and got my body into the back of the fuselage, with some foam between me and any of the plane providing some support.

This was MUCH eaiser to manage… MUCH! There were only a few times where I was thinking that I could do serious damage to myself if I dropped the bucking bar onto myself. The plane would have been protected by the foam… It was my head that was my main concern. I am told I looked rather awkward… I am not surprised… I felt it. I will try to get a copy of the photo to post here…

At times I had my head on the side of the fuselage which really amplified the noise… I am sure that the whole thing was acting as a huge speaker cone. Actually at one stage a truck drove by outside and the whole shell vibrated… I heard (or felt it) inside the fuse, but richard did not seem to hear it on the outside…

Today I have a few slightly sore muscles, but apart from that, I am happy that the job is basically done.