Working Through The Fuselage To-Do List

Spent the day working through the to-do list on the QB fuselage. This included using the step drill to open up two 9/16" holes on the fuse bottom for dual comm antennas. Again what should have taken 10 minutes...didn't. I used caution drilling because I've had issues with the step drill enlarging holes off center. I've done some research on the VAF Forum and YouTube for techniques to prevent this but haven't been successful. I enlarged the first hole to 5/16" and paused to check my progress. Sure enough it was wandering off center. Fortunately there's a doubler in the interior with a correct sized hole in it so you have a good reference where you're at. Frustrated I posted on the Forum my woes and for any advice. I got several replies quickly but no real revelations as to what I was doing wrong or how to prevent it. Several recommended using "English" on the drill to move the hole where you wanted it. Others recommended filing away material in the direction you want to go because the drill will take the path of least resistance. None of these sounded like a recipe for precision work. Another guy with several RVs built recommended getting a single flute step drill vs the more common (and what I have) dual flute design. In the end I used the step drill to carefully open the hole without exceeding the limit as defined by the hole on the doubler. Then I used a rat tail file to remove any remaining material up to the hole edge. Then ran the step drill to the 9/16" point to clean it up. This was time consuming but in the end effective. I also ordered a quality single flute step drill for future use. I then machine countersunk and rivetted in 6 nut plates on the lower firewall. The plans have a mistake here as K1000-8Ds nut plates are called for but the holes aren't dimpled but CS instead. So I installed undimpled K1000-8s instead. Next I had 30 rivets holes on the bottom to fill where main landing gear leg fairings would attach. Since I'm building a taildragger those holes are unneeded and the plans direct rivets fill these unused holes. My son is in town for Christmas and he volunteered to help. After some quick instruction on how to buck rivets and verify the shop head we quickly got the job done. His rivet heads all looked factory fresh and we had no issues. Thankful for his help. Lastly I received a reply from Vans about my missing eyeball vents. Turns out the vendor no longer makes these particular eyeball vents, which are all plastic. Van's offers an aluminum version that is a direct replacement but they are pricey at $160 each. And I need two. Van's forwarded a letter from June 2018 explaining this but it was the first I'd heard of it. There are cheaper aftermarket options available but you'd have to modify the Van's brackets to make them work. And honestly I didn't want to deal with that. Slightly annoyed I ordered the new aluminum ones. By all accounts they work much better then the plastic ones. For what they cost they'd better!