Well, it looks like I can rivet the bottom skin on, finally; or, at least, cleco it into position since I can't think of anything else that needs to be done in the tailcone.
I figured that I might as well polish the skin before installing it for ease of access and all that. I've decided to only do the first grade of NuVite, the "F" grade. Since no one (at least no one sane) will be crawling underneath the plane on the ground, it doesn't have to be a mirror finish.
Took a few tries to remember the spacing of the "fingers" of compound; spent far too long on the center portion before finally adding a bit more compound - THEN it just flew by properly. A bit blotchy; may touch it up when I do the last foot (the portion under the buffer in the pic below). I ran out of daylight, and this stuff really does NOT want to be done in a garage or place where you don't want compounding dust all over everything.
