Started out by removing the blue plastic from the rivet lines with my butane powered soldering iron.  The torch produces enough heat to allow you to run up and down the skin rather quickly and melt the blue plastic with ease.  I did the whole outline on the skin and then went back to peel off the plastic in one piece.  So much faster than the electric solder iron doing the same task as the gas heat is much faster at recovery than the electric iron.  Next I deburred  both HS skins withe the single flute deburr tool in the electric screw driver on the exterior of the skins and the 1″ EXL wheel on the die grinder on the inside of the skins.  Next I used the pneumatic squeezer to dimple all of the ribs with the exception of the holes for the fiberglass fairing and tips.  After that I got the DRDT-2 out and began dimpling the skins.  I Always do the left side part(s) first so the passenger sees the “pretty side” when the get in.  All about instilling confidence in the passenger.  Anyway,  I was getting into a groove with the DRDT-2 and thought that I would be able to dimple the entire nose rib holes included the two closest to the leading edge.  Well the dimples were placed but the angle required to product the dimple forced a dent into the skin as the DRDT-2 is just not the right tool to use to dimple these holes.  Cleaveland makes a close quarters dimple die (that was sitting in my tool box) that is just perfect for this task.  Luckily I only did the two inboard nose ribs and their leading holes on the bottom of the skin.  For the top of the skin I used the Cleaveland die set with great results.  I will also add that when using the DRDT-2 you should always return the spring loaded leaver arm back to the FULL open position. When I was moving the skin with the handle “half cocked” the skin slapped into it causing it to close the die set enough to put a nice dent in the top of the skin.  Lesson learned there!

Cleaveland laser tool to help quickly identify die location for dimple process. Very nice tool to use.  Can also be used on drill press as it is magnetic.

Look closely at the bottom hole and you will see where the DRDT-2 bent the skin during the dimple process as the angle of the skin in the tool was much tighter than was possible without denting the skin.  Next time I used a close quarters dimple die with much success.

Damage from half cocked DRDT-2 lever arm getting touched while moving skin and subsequent dent.

The hole closes to the leading edge is the ones that a close quarter dimple die must be used on or the skin will get dented by the DRDT-2.