Tuesday 1
Wednesday 2
Thursday 3 ~ Wednesday 9
I made a very quick trip back to the land down under for a family reunion. A nice break, but a bit short.
Thursday 10
No building
Friday 11
No building
Saturday 12
I finished off the final sand of the aileron and to prevent myself from fooling around with it any more I put them away out of sight. The ailerons seemed to take just as long as the flaps, although they are smaller. I think having to fiddle around where the mass balance weights go seems to take extra time.
Sunday 13
I found that the top surface of the stabilizer was fairly pitted with some pin holes and the Super Prime was not going to get me where I wanted to be so I bit the bullet and mixed up a batch of SuperFil and dug out the offending spots and added the filler. I think they will cut back fairly well and I can cover them with a light spray coat of Super Prime.
I reassembled the rudder pedals, which isn't exactly a fun job, and I certainly would not want to be doing this with the engine in place. I liked the look of the gray speckle paint so much I have decided to do the center console the same. I was planning to upholster this but it looks like a fairly complex shape to be getting upholstery to sit on.
Monday 14
I did a little more sanding on the center console and a bit of masking up.
Tuesday 15
Finished off the masking and sprayed on the gray speckle paint. Although it had not dried yet, it looked pretty good
Wednesday 16
I spayed on a clear coat of varnish over speckle paint finish to protect it from chipping. Assuming that this stuff wears pretty well I think this is going to look quite nice and complement the upholstery nicely.
Thursday 17
I lightly sanded back the top surface of the stabilizer where I had patched up the pin holes / dimples. When I had put in the SuperFil I squeezed it flush and I wish I hadn't. The spots were now slightly lower. I mixed up some super prime and sprayed it on, but it was apparent that it wasn't going to cover properly. I'll sand it back tomorrow night and figure out what to do next.
Friday 18
Jenny had made a pattern so we cut out some upholstery for the baggage bay. For her it was just another dress making exercise, so I just watched and did what I was told!. I was keen to glue it in but the spray adhesive smell would have gone through the house so I will have to wait until the weekend when I can open the workshop.
I sanded back the top of the stabilizer with 320 grit and I am not sure if I need to undercoat some more or not. I think I'll stand it up against the wall and think about it some more.
Saturday 19
I re-fitted the master cylinder after painting the center console. I fitted up the brake hose and drilled and lock wired the brake cylinder bolts. I need to borrow an angle drill so I can put in some holes to hold the P clips on the wheel fork.
In the afternoon I sanded back both sides of both trim tabs with 150 grit paper and spayed one surface of both trim tabs. While I had some paint mixed up I touched up one area of the flaps that I had rubbed aback to the blue SuperFil.
Sunday 20
Well Jenny and I decided to have a go at a bit of upholstery. Jenny had already made a couple of patterns and we had cut the cloth to cover the baggage bay area a few evenings ago. After a lot of deliberations we decided to clip it to the top of the baggage area where the "D" cut out is and work the material down. After a lot of little snips and tucks we could not put off sticking it down any longer. I gave the flat area a good liberal coat of 3M spray adhesive and then the vertical area by the floor. The last to be glued was the vertical section up to the "D" cut out. The whole operation went very smoothly, however it does seem like one of those things that could go badly wrong.
Encouraged by our success we reworked the pattern for the port side pattern for the rear area and cut the material out. This piece has to fit to size so this meant the edge would have to be stitched so it wouldn't fray. To glue this one in I had to mask off the previous piece we had glued in, and I can tell you, masking tape doesn't stick to the cloth very well.
The last task for the day was to give the second side of the trim tabs a coat of Smooth Prime. While I had the spray gun out I decided to redo the upper surface of the stabilizer. It probably would have been okay, however I sure would have been unhappy if the marks had come through the final coat of paint.
Monday 21
No building
Tuesday 22
I sanded back the stabilizer that I recoated on the weekend. It turned out quite nicely and I had it finished in about 40 minutes of sanding with 320 grit. I think I can pretty well declare the stabilizers, flaps and aileron done. I am not sure it they are done or I am, but I am sure done messing with them. I have the rudder and wings to go.
I made a pattern and cut out the cloth for the back starboard area. Its now upstairs waiting to be hemmed before gluing in place.
Wednesday 23
Thursday 24
Jenny hemmed up the back side section today so we stuck it in this evening. The sticking in bit goes quite quickly, its all of the masking up you have to do to make sure that the adhesive doesn't get all over the place
Friday 25
Saturday 26 & Sunday 27
While Jenny was hemming thing up I did a bit of "Blue Foam Carving" The seat area from the head rest down to the seat pan does not follow a constant line. I am not sure it this is a good idea or nit But I am going to make up a couple wedges to make this a constant slope. I guess I can always take them out if need be, but for the moment I am going to experiment with a more reclined seating arrangement.
Monday 28
Jenny and I decided to have a crack at doing the pattern for the front of the headrests and don to the bottom of the seat pan. This took a little longer that I thought it would. We found that the easiest approach was to make the pattern in sections and then tape the whole thing together. Once the pattern was made we were all set to cut out the cloth which was pretty quick to do. I found that the roller cutter that I used for bid cloth worked really well on fabric. The next step will be to hem the edges and glue it in.
Tuesday 29
No building
Wednesday 30
No building
Thursday 31