Blocks, stiffeners, linings: fitting out the sides for gluing

Sorry for no post in a while - but I took about 2 weeks to raise some cash by building a 17 foot wind tunnel for a friend who manufactures anemometers. I had to build and deliver it in two parts, because I couldn't fit it all in my shop. Take a look, and you'll understand.

But now I'm back on the job.

Once the sides were bent, and the linings were cut, I installed blocks, vertical stiffeners and linings to the sides, to get them ready for the big glueup. Here's how it went:

Adding neck and tail blocks. I was amazed to find I still had some 3" thick chunks of Honduras Mahogany in my shop from about 20 years ago, when I made garden furniture out of it.  I brought the chunks up here from New York.  It was perfect for making the thick neck and tail blocks, which  I glued up in the main clamp to fit the sides together.

I goofed, but it's OK. I bent one of the sides so that it fell about 1/8" short of meeting the other side in the butt joint at the top. So I had to scab in a filler piece cut off from trimming one of the other sides. Instead of just adding about 1/8" to fit, I cut a little bit more off the short side and added about a 3/4" piece to fill. BUT no problem - the "extra seam" will be invisible, hidden under the neck when it's assembled. If this is the worst mistake I make, I'll consider myself lucky.

Gluing in sections of kerfed lining to the inside edges of the sides.  By a stroke of serendipity, I had a relatively clean "indoor" job I could do upstairs in the house during evenings while the shop was in shambles from building the wind tunnel. I added vertical grained basswood stiffeners to the sides where indicated (you can see one just under the tip of the brush) and segments of kerfed lining in between. This was nice, sit-down work.

Kerfed lining sections clamped and drying. I used little spring clamps on the ends and clothespins in between. 

Adding filler strips. To make the best possible uninterrupted glue joints between the sides and the tops and backs, I added small, tapered fillers  over the vertical stiffeners, in between the strips of kerfed lining. When these were dry, I pared them down to the same profile as the linings with a sharp chisel.

Leveling the edges with a "sanding paddle." I spray-mounted sandpaper to one end of a wide flat stick, and rubbed the "sandy part" over the kerfed linings, little by little, until they were flush with the sides. Careful work, but satisfying when it was done.

Using the sanding paddle trim and level the edges. Neck block, sides, vertical stiffeners and kerfed linings all cleaned up and level!

Ready for gluing the tops and backs. Last good look at the inside.