Once the mid-section "cheeks" of the main pylon were shaped, hollowing
them out was the next step in weight reduction, especially since this wasn't
the lightest balsa I happened to have on hand. The fillet "cuff" pieces that
serve as a transition between the pylon and pontoon were cut and sanded to
the bottom ( widest) outline. I wanted to get as much contour shaping and
sanding off the pontoon to facilitate handling and accuracy. The only way
to accomplish this without adding the deck stringers was to get a 1/8 th
piece of corrugated cardboard, make a series of partial yet equal through
cuts and tape it in place. 60 grit sandpaper was taped over this and the
pylon base was sanded back and forth over this until the pylon bottom was
concave sanded up to the outside edges of the width.
At this point, it was razor-sawed in half and partially outline
shaped, cut to the correct height to fit up against the bottom of the pylon
cheeks and then shaped and sanded w/ progressively finer grits of sandpaper
around a dowel. All pieces were temporarily held in place at this time with
double-sided scotch tape. When the deck finally gets planked, the cuff
pieces will be cemented in first followed by the cheeks.