Ok builders, getting closer now!

After all our filler work is done, it's time to apply some zinc chromate primer to our shells. This stuff is intended to be for boat motors (also aluminum) so its zinc based solution is proven to bond to aluminum really good. If you don't use this stuff, your paint ...

Having allowed the shell top walls time to dry, we then move onto now joining these top walls and our also dried skirt walls. Scrub away, clean with acetone and apply a good helping of JB weld and simply put the top onto the shell skirt.

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Grab the long shell battery box strip plate and use ...

Last episode we finished getting the center foot shell all JB welded up.
Next we need to put together our outer foot shells.

First step I took was to put together the ankle walls (which is the same process as our center shell).

However before we do so, we need to prepare our ankle walls for our ...

Now pop off the skirt details (hammer lightly if needed) and using tape, mask off the area we don't want JBWeld to get on:

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Now lets clean the inside walls of our skirt detail with our steel brush and more acetone. For this, we are not focused on the entire ...

Next, we move onto skirt details.

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Begin by cleaning the tab surfaces of the meeting corners and use a file if the tabs are too snug during a dry fit.

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Next apply JBWeld to the two shortest detail plates and fit it all ...

k, with the ankle completed and dried, we can now focus on the walls. However before you do so, you need to make an access hole on one or the other of our side wall's inner lip.

This hole should be the same size hole as we made in our ankle walls and done so prior to putting the shell together any ...

Once cleaned up, lets mask off the inner lip / outer plate, leaving just the area we want to apply more JBWeld:

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Once applied, I liked to wait a good 20mins before peeling the tape ...

Once tabs have been cut through, we need to remove the duct tape and with our file smooth out the tab leftovers:
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Now carefully put the center plate back in place and try your absolute best to re-space/align these two parts from one another and then add back ...

Center Shell

Start off by doing dry fits of your center shell using tape to hold it all together. You will find some, if not most parts are a little tight and you will need to file down any of the rough edges of the tabbed connecting parts.

This process is fast, and should only require a swipe ...

Info. from Devin's posts on Astromech.net

Its been a while since I've posted, but I've been doing lots of work around these shells and now ready to share some progress (bonus at the end).

What is strength?
First, lets talk about what shell strength means.
Because shells float on the drive ...