The Avionics bay, under the seat.
Two USB powered LED strips, because, why not?
Cosy! 
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Can you get those lights to go to fiery red and blink randomly if you get hit by a SAMā¦not that you ever would get hit by a SAMā¦just sayān it would add to the emersion.
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Got the rest of the alu skin today.
I wanted alu with a protective plastic. All protected alu they had was anodized.
Anodized to the left. Natural alu to the right.
Now, Iād like to go with natural, untreated, alu skin, but since that would mean all sorts of scratches from the plate bender, I got the protected, anodized kind.
I could mix it, with anodized on the sidewalls, and natural on the short sides. Or I can go with anodized all around.
Anodized means it will withstand scratches better. Not necessarily a good thing, since I like the way alu looks when it gets worn and beat up. And with the rivets, it would look cool.
However, I think Iām stretching my goodwill with the one who must be obeyed, as it is.
What do you guys think?
Mix of anodized and natural, or anodized all around?
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Ha, you mean the one with 10,000 shoes and just wants one more pair? XD - At least that is my wife.
well, I salute her for letting you go as far as you have.
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Thatās the one! 
Yeah, sheās great that way. In other ways tooā¦ in case she reads this
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300 rivets for the skin? That seems high. Have you considered riveting nutplates to the frame and using screws to allow for easier skin removal/replacement?
292 to be exact.
I certainly donāt need that many, to keep the skin in place. But I thought a 2" distance between rivets would look good. Sort of a hint of aircraft skinā¦
But I donāt knowā¦
@komemiute? Whatās your take on this?
Yeah. That was my first thought. But then I thought rivets would look better.
Thereās really no need to remove the skin, other than for a total rebuild.
They donāt cover anything I canāt get to from the other side.
I could use double sided tape, but I like the riveted panel look.
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All it needs now is a Ring Laser INS 
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Ooooohā¦! Ebay next. Maybe I get one with a blue light? 
Rivet Counter!
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Anodized aluminium still can get damaged depending on the quality though, so keep that in mind.
You can always use normal aluminium and then buff it with some scotchbrite. This removes the corrosion protected layer(itās usually alclad material). Using it on a drill/disk gives a nice style honestly.
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Yeah, I see.
Now itās more a question of continuity. Anodized all around, or anodized on the sides, and natural on the ends. I think all around anodized will look more like furniture, if you know what I meanā¦
Absolutely, hard to advice you on that. Go with what feels right? Scotchbrite has a habit of removing annodization too so you can always step back to a lower level if you need.
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Hereās the rivet layout.
Since Iām placing the rivets in the tracks of the alu frame, there will be a slight inconsistency on the ends, where the frame is 40x40. The sides are 30x30.
The upper and lower horizontal rivet line of the ends, will sit 5mm lower than the other rivetsā¦
And, for the true rivet counters out thereā¦ Yes, there will be 340 rivets.
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Maybe drop the rivets on the side edgesā¦?
Maybe, would save you some work but if you put a row there it looks like a lapjoint which might be visually pleasing to you?
Itās hard to tell, in advance, what will look good, and what will be too muchā¦ 
The saying āless is moreā, is often good advice.
That is indeed very true, it really depends on what you are trying to achieve.
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