There are some tricks to get the body panels aligned properly. The holes with red marks are where clecos were used in pervious fittings. They will eventual be filled with body putty before painting.

One little trick is the aluminum flange mounted behind the two panels. This is not part of the RotorWay plans. It is a modification to hold a Dzus spring in the horizontal position so all the Dzus fastener heads along the horizontal joint of the rear body panels are aligned in the same direction.

The diagonal cut in the front body panels lip is to allow the panels to mate so the rear panels will seat properly when they are attached to the ship.

This is a rear view of the hand crafted flange. I think it's a beautiful piece of art. The top hole is where another Dzus spring will be mounted vertically instead of horizontal.

This picture shows the rear body panels in place. If you have exceptionally good eyes you can notice that there are no Dzus fasteners along the horizontal seam of the upper and lower rear body panels. That's because I decided to modify the body and get rid of the split rear panels. Here the rear panels have been fiberglassed together. It's a much cleaner look and will provide better access to the engine compartment. All the art work in the previous pictures is gone.

The next several frames illustrate how the rear panels were joined.

Jim is Vacuum Man while I use the belt sander to remove jell coat from the panel lip. Fiberglass doesn't adhere to jell coat very well.

Here the panels are laid out and fiberglass mat is cut to make the joint. The clecos in the lower right corner will be used to temporarily hold the panels together while the fiberglass is curing.

Chip and I are laying up the fiberglass on the upper panel. Just as soon as we get it in place, we will flip the panel over and mate the lower panel.

Jim was taking pictures but his hands were needed to insert the clecos while Chip and I held the panels together. That's why there are no more pictures of this process.