I have spent bits of time over the last week or so making the top, bottom, and back of the Bede BD-4C tail cone, which is a bit of a misnomer since the tail cone is not conical, but never mind. The sides, which are a pretty complex shape, came prefabricated from BedeCorp and saved me a bunch of work. Here are the pieces that I built. (Click any picture to see a larger version.)
Here is a picture of how it all fits together on the plane.
Building the TC-1 (back of the tail cone) turned into yet another “learning opportunity” for me. The first one did not fit well at all. It was too wide, so it would not fit into the TC-3 (bottom of the tail cone). Since it would not fit into the TC-3, it would not slide all the way down. Between not sliding all the way down and being too tall, in addition to too wide, it stuck up about 0.10″ past the top of the tail cone sides.
Solving the problem involved making another, smaller piece. This time, I took into account the thickness of the material and the “bend radius”. These make the part about 0.05″ wider and taller. I drew the shape that I needed but made it 0.05″ narrower and 0.05″ shorter than the first time around. After bending the flanges, the new one fit perfectly.
Holy cow. I understand how 0.05″ tolerances can make a significant difference on something like this, but I think that would drive me nuts. I admire your patience and tenacity.