Setting the nose gear aside for the moment, I decided to start on the joystick. The plans specify a single, center-mounted stick, but there is a set of drawings available for dual sticks, which is what I'm building.
Here is the torque tube that connects the two joysticks together. (It is upside-down in this picture.) It is suspended from the bottom of the floor by a couple of hinge plates. The drawings suggest welding and reaming the hinges BEFORE attaching the end plates, but I sort of forgot about that part. As a result, I got to cut off and re-weld the end plates AFTER mounting and reaming the hinges.
Total Time: 15.5 hrs.