Hey guys, I started my lightening project and wanted to see what ya thought about what I have done so far. This is only my 3rd kit, but I have a few ARFS and a few of my own coroplast designs under my belt. I thought it could be used as a future tutorial, as I am willing to experiment with this build. I am open for suggestions, but please don't feel offended if I don't heed somebody's - in favor for- somebody else's advice. THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE IS PERFORMED ASSUMING YOU HAVE ALREADY GLUED THE REAR HALF OF THE FUSE TOGETHER.

I got busy with the #11 exacto, a steel straight edge, a pencil, and a couple of sanding (180 -150 grit) tools I custom made from a small dowel, and a small thin (1/8) HARD piece of basswood. I started by poking T pins in from the opposite side, right at the point where the curves start in the inside of the fuse on the doublers. This was done to make marks on the OUTSIDE of the fuse. I was generous with my marks, making my 'lattice' plenty wide, like a 1/2 inch or so. I never went any further than the doublers on the inside. Therefore, the work is done inside the doubler's hole, and any cuts must be done in a fashion where you KEEP THE STRINGERS WIDE ENOUGH inside the hole you cut.

Pic #1: I Dremeled out the round corners, keeping in mind that the stringers have to be kept wide for future sanding.

The rest are just pics of different stages of sanding. You get the idea.

I use a precise digital scale, and the fuse weighed 8.9 oz at the before stage, and 8.1 at the end (nothing ahead of the REAR wing bolt is in place yet). I lost exactly 1/2 ounce with this mod so far, and I haven't decided what to do under the tail portion yet.