I ended up going on the road this week for a couple of days, so I didn't get as much done as I had originally hoped. I did manage to get the belly skin area almost all riveted.

There is an opening on each side of the belly skin area where the landing gear legs attach. Those openings will be covered by removable covers.

You can also see the ramp where the cooling air and engine exhaust exit the cowling. The ramp forms a tunnel that allows this air to exit without adding a lot drag.

You need to be very careful when riveting the belly fairing area. Everything must be done in a very specific order, or you will find that you can't get access to buck some rivets. The sequence in the building manual works, but you have to read and understand every word. I almost painted myself in a corner a couple of times.

Here is a closeup of the cooling air exit ramp. The rounded edge on the front helps smooth out the airflow. There will be a lot of air exiting through a fairly small area, and Van has tried to make the airflow as orderly as possible to minimize the drag from the cooling air.