OK, a little work with the scotchbrite wheel on my bench grinder, and a vixen file, and we're getting close.  Compare the one on the right with the one on the left.

And a little more filing, deburring, emery cloth and scotchbrite work later, we've got some finished parts... almost.

 

As you can see here, we have to bend these tapered tabs back exactly six degrees.  There's two stiffeners, each with its own ends, so we get to do this four times.  Notice the callout on the plans... "use a minimum bend radius of 1/8".  The bend line is marked as 5-3/16" outboard of the centerline of the part.  I marked the centerline (it's smack dab between two holes pre-drilled by the factory, and those holes are exactly 1" apart, making the math easy!).

To ensure a 1/8 bend radius, I needed something to put against the bend line that would ensure I don't bend the part around a sharper radius than called out in the plans... to sharp of a bend could cause metal fatigue and failure later... not good on a load-bearing spar.  In the kit, Vans Aircraft had included this free bolt sizing gadget.  I've had no use for it yet.  But...

Lookee there.... it's exactly 1/8" thick!  I cleaned up the edges and used this plate, clamped at the bend line, to get my 1/8" radius.  (Thanks, Dave, when you were over, for helping me understand bend radii!).

Knowing this step would be coming up from my preview plans reading, I had found this nice simple cheap ($10?) tool at Lowes...  I dialed in six degrees...

And marked a 90-degree square line and the 6-degree line crossing it on some scrap aluminum.  The plans say to make a cardboard template, but what the hey, I'm in the groove....

Rough cuts with the dremel and a cut-off wheel because this sheet stock was too thick for metal snips.  Guess what?  Aluminum conducts heat VERY well.  I quickly remembered that I hadn't put on my gloves like I usually do.

After the rough cut (below), I used the scotchbrite wheel and a file to get it right down to the line, and now I have a great little template...

My first thought was to clamp the aluminum angle to be bent square to the edge of the plate that was going to help me get the 1/8" bend radius (you can see the bend line marked in red ink on the part).  I quickly discovered that with it clamped up this way, there was no way to mount it in my vice.

So we did this instead:  I put the 1/8" bend-radius plate in the vice... sitting against the vice bolts, it stuck up a good 3" above the table surface as a "fence".  I placed the stiffener on the table, lined up the bend line, and clamped it to the plate with some cardboard for protection. 

Another view from the other side, before bending the tabs.

With my template flush against the stiffener, you can see here the amount of bend we're going to create (the tip is sticking out at the end, down by the 90-degree mark...

The plans specify clamping the tapered tab between two blocks of wood and "hitting it with a soft rubber mallet" until it gets to six degrees.  I did that on this side, and it worked...

And I clamped up the other side and was getting ready to smack away on it...

And realized that if I turned the clamp holding the wood blocks around this way, they made a great lever/handle to just bend the tab by hand... which was MUCH more accurate and smooth than "whacking on it with a hammer".

Both parts bent on both sides, to exactly six degrees!  I was kind of concerned about this step... "how are you supposed to bend these thick bars to exactly six degrees and have all four tabs end up the SAME?!"

 

But it turned out to be a non-event.  A quick check, with the parts butted up against each other... a hair over 40/64th's gap on this side...

And look at that, on the other side!  Hey, what's that smell?!

My sister-in-law, Julie, and her son, flew down from Missouri again.  I had promised to make my "better than chocolate" (according to my daughters!) grilled brisket tacos.  Teresa found a nice brisket on Wednesday, and that meat has been 'getting happy' since then.  On Wednesday, I put the meat in a big glass bowl and covered it with Amber Bock and let it marinate over night (about 16 hours).  Thursday morning, before work, I pulled it out of the beer, put it fat-side down on some plastic wrap on the counter, and put my magic on it... an eyeballed blend of cumin (LOTS OF IT), garlic powder, fresh ground pepper and sea salt.  I wrapped the meat up tightly in the plastic and put it on a cookie sheet (if any meat juices escaped, the wouldn't end up in the bottom of the fridge) and put it back in the garage fridge to season itself. 

Thursday night, I stopped by the Mexican district in North Fort Worth, where I go to get my poblano peppers for this dish.  At the "normal" American grocery stores, you'll be lucky to find 4 or 5 poblanos, and they will be 2/$4 or something like that, and NOT NICE looking.  At the Carnival grocery store, they have the most incredible produce department.  They have a bin of poblanos like we have bananas or oranges.  And it's that way with everything at this store.  And the prices!?  I got a 5# bag full of beautiful poblano peppers for $3.02.  Can't beat that with a stick!

If you're not familiar with poblanos, they are only SLIGHTLY spicy... not like jalapenos or habanero peppers.  Most kids can eat these without any issues.  Think "mexican bell pepper".

The brisket sometimes gets smoked in the smoker outside... other times, if I'm too busy for that, it goes in the slow cooker on low for about 12 hours.  I put this in the slow cooker Friday night after we got back from picking up Julie at the airport.  Another bottle of beer went in.  Fat side down at first, so the spices wouldn't burn.  In the morning, I turned the pieces over, fat side up, so the fat (not much, these were trimmed of most of the fat) would continue to melt, but down into the meat now.  About 3pm Saturday, it's now time to start getting this meal put together.  The meat was so tender, it just fell apart, but I still take a knife and cut the pieces of brisket across the grain to make nice bite-sized strands and pieces, and then mix it all up into the juices.  (can you smell it!?)

My bean soup.  Souper simple (pun intended), but gets rave reviews.  Saute some onion and chopped poblano in a little butter with salt and fresh ground pepper (I also added a few fattier pieces of the brisket that I pulled out of the crock pot while cutting up the meat, and rended those over high heat before adding the onions); pour in two or three cans of Swanson's chicken broth, some chopped up carrot, fresh cilantro, and a rinsed can each of Bush's black and white beans.  Cover, simmer....

Teresa's trying out some new colors... love the lime green!  How appropriate for today... I'm making lime-cilantro rice to go with the soup and tacos!

Things were simmering, I was taking other pictures.  Our dog, Snickers... she's a springer-spaniel mix... "birding dog".  I'm not a hunter, but when we moved to Texas, we had several gentlemen walk right up to us and say "Is she for sale!?"  She's lean and healthy for her age... pretty dog and smart as tacks.  I think she'd enjoy birding if given the chance.

 

Lindsay and her cousin Joseph were playing video games...

...with Jessica.  They had a little "makeup party" with their Aunt Julie earlier, so Jessica's a little more made up than Daddy's used to! 

Julie and Teresa escaping from the smells inside the house...

OK, let's get back to the food.  Abby came in to help me, as it get's really busy at the end.  She grated a bunch of fresh Jack cheese.

I slivered the poblanos... cut the poblano lengthwise, rip out the top stem with the seeds, and rinse under cold water to get all the seeds out.  Slice thin with a sharp knife...

Lots of sweet onions...

Cut each end off, and the outer skin peels away....

Cut each onion in half (through the top), then lay each half on it's side and sliver those too....

A whole stick of butter (or two, maybe), some fresh ground pepper, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, some sea salt....

Push on the onions with a wooden spoon as you're stirring, and they'll all come apart... no need to pre-separate them outside the pan.

How's that soup doing?  Mmmmmmmmmmmm.  Hungry yet?

 

As the onions just start to soften, make 'em happy... add the poblanos and stir those in.

This is just right... you want them starting to get translucent and soft (the onions) but not totally floppy; they should still have a hint of "crunch" to them when you bite into one.

Teresa returned with Jules (we call Julie "Jules") with fresh-baked white-corn tortillas from Rosas.... we don't buy these at the grocery store, we to to a Mexican restaurant where they make their own fresh, hot, as you order them, and bring them home at the last minute.  You don't want to ruin this dish with some old white flour frisbees that have been sitting on a supermarket shelf for 3 weeks!

Time to put these tacos together.  I pulled the inner bowl out of the slow cooker and brought the meat over by the stove, added a bunch of fresh chopped cilantro and stirred that in... you want to add the cilantro last for freshness and flavor.

Everything is ready for assembly... here we go!

If you've got a helper (as I did) you can do this really fast... two hot cast-iron skillets on on the stove with just enough vegetable oil in them to keep the pan wet.  We want to just lightly grill the shells, not deep-fat-fry them!  If the oil is smoking or spritzing on you, it's too hot.  You'll get the temp set just right, and will have a nice pleasant steady "crackle".

Take a tortilla, add some brisket...  I put all the stuff on one HALF of the tortilla, NOT down the middle.  I want to be able to fold the top over later....

Some onions and poblanos....

A healthy dose of cheese (helps seal the tortilla)....

Sometimes I'll add a green sauce... today, I let people put that on themselves at serving time.  Fold the tortilla in half....

And hold your breath... this is going to smell divine.  I can get up to 3 per pan at a time.

Monitor them closely... be careful around the hot oil... I always burn my fingertips doing this dish, but it's worth it!  ;-)  When the color is "just right", flip it over with a spatula.  I usually slide the taco around in the oil to get even coverage as soon as I turn it over.  If the taco doesn't have the right amount of hot oil on it, it's not going to get pretty like these:

As they finish, I put them in a baking dish in the oven, pre-heated to 200 degrees to keep them nummy.   My advice?  Unless everybody needs to eat at the same time, serve these FRESH right out of the pan to your guests... they are WAY better as they just come out than if you save them for later as we did.

Abby helped me by stuffing the tacos so I could focus on cooking them.  She's a pro!

Started pan #2....

I know, this is cruel and unusual punishment.  You came here to read about airplane building.....

As you flip the taco over, hold it for a short perod of time with the spatula, and the cheese will seal it shut.

Prep work complete... tacos (some with just meat and cheese and some with just cheese for the kids), lime/cilantro rice, and bean soup.  All I can say is it was... GRUB!  ;-)

After dinner, back out to the shop.  The tabs at the end of the front spars must be bent back at the same 6-degree sweep that the stiffeners have.  First, though, you have to cut a relief notch so the part can bend without introducing a crack....

 

I cut the notch correctly, but then made my first goof.  I couldn't figure out why these stiffeners were having so much trouble laying flat and lining up with my previously drilled out holes.  The tapered ends were interfering with the inside radius of the spars between the web and the flange.  I saw something on the plans that seemed to indicate that you make a cut in the flange to accomodate for this... wrong.  I had simply put the spar upside down here.  The flanges should be pointing DOWN, not up... which also means I bent the tabs on the spar the wrong direction (fortunately, my stiffeners are bent the right way and will not need to be re-worked).  Well, lesson learned.  Went online and ordered two new HS-702's for $16 each and they'll be here in 3 days....