So here is a accumulation of dos and donts I came across while starting to build my HDS. Some may be painfully boring for the professionals but never heard of by newbies like me. I decided to do this in English, since I didn`t find all of these tips on other websites. The best Listing of Zodiac builders tips I  found on CH601.org and CH701.org

If you know of better methods and new hints, please let me know. I'll post them here.

Tip for the tip
I found this most useful hint on Michels Website

 Most Newbies like me get absolutely mystified about the size and form of the riveting tool...well, the discouraging answer is : if you don't want to wait for ZAC to make it for you, you have to find out yourself. It has to be made so, that the diameter of the concave form in the tool has about the same size as the respective rivet head. You have to experiment with the depth of the concave form a little. In the end the rim of the rivet should snug tightly on the surface of the skin. This sounds more complicated than the actual task is. Here are the two best ways to fabricate it:

method 1: Using a lathe during lunch breaks at the company's work shop will give excellent results.

The Riveter

I'm a regular lurker on the Matronics List, and new guys often  ask, wether it is necessary to buy airtools. I decided not to go that route, since I  didn't want to spend a fortune on a noisy compressor and I hate bulky hoses knocking flimsy aluminum structures off the work bench. (Ask me how I know) Since the actual riveting is only about 5 to 10 % of all building activities and I don't like air drills, it would sit around useless most of the time.

Maybe you really can pull all the rivets by hand but in the end you would come out like "Popeye" trying not to break  the controls when flying.

So I spent less in spinach but approximately $100 in a mechanical, drill chuck mounted riveting device. That's pretty expensive, but it is of professional quality and you can use it on any drill or chordless device. You could even take it out on the ramp and do some pop riveting there

The biggest disadvantage is at the same time the best feature: it has no spring for the stem to eject. That means: right hand turns for pulling motion, left hand turn for ejecting motion. This makes it pretty slow compared to a air riveter. But due to the lack of spring force it NEVER jumps! and by controling the speed on the drill, you can precisely control the rivet squeeze and stem break.

Spongebob

I faced the problem, that very often I had to apply corrosion protection to a very small number of parts. I am using a 2 component System, so I would have to mix it and use a painters brush to apply. Now you can use solvent to clean your brush every time and end up with a  ton of comtaminated solvent, or throw the brush away because it gets brittle. After about 5 Brushes I found out, that a small piece of foam rubber does the trick perfectly. Taped to a stick it gives even better results than the brush I used before. And its single use.

It cuts like a knife...

This one is quite popular and I also found it on Michels Site. But since it is so amazing I like to repeat it once more.

When I first read about this I thought it was a Joke. I was shure you'll  never cut aluminum with a knife and if you could actually cut a solid sheet of aluminum with a knife then maybe I should go back and rethink the structural itegrity of such an aircraft. ...but since I am downright terrible when it comes to using the snips I decided to give it a try. The amazing thing is, it works perfect for all straight cutting! You need a knife sold as "OLFA P-CUTTER 800". These are plastic/lamiate cutters and work great on building airplanes, too. You mark your line on the surface, clamp a ruler or straight piece of metal along the line and start cutting. The cut is done by a single edge like the tooth of a milling tool. It takes some time and several cutting strokes to go through the material (therefore the ruler) but it is well worth the effort.