Bad rivets - along the forward floor bulkhead seam there were a bunch of rivets that had no bucktails
I don't know what caused this - possibly the passenger's seat had worn them down but it didn't look like it

Another inadequate picture but trust me - I replaced all the bad rivets with good rivets

Things are definitely going in the direction I want them to go now

Remember that dirty bilge?

The Can Gun and the tube allowed me to primer just about everything
Of course, as always, cleaning and prep are the most important aspects of painting anything

Here's one of the mount bosses for the gear leg and strut block

Blurry, but here's the strut mount block

Still a smidgin' of blue paint left - but it'll be completely gone soon

Getting the tailwheel parts ready

Lots of shiny new parts ready to start going back together
I've finally reached that Nadir

Inspiration