Tuesday 1 ~ Friday 4
Saturday 5
I did a few finishing touches to the rudder and put it away. Like everything else its not perfect but there comes a time where you have to call it quits. I fitted up the stabilizers so I could cut the trim tabs back to clear the rudder. I find that getting the stabilizers to fit on the drive pins to be a real bugger and I suspect that I am going to have to remove the bushes and re glue them.
Sunday 6
My friend Marty swung by and was looking bored so I asked him to fit some locks to my doors. He got busy and within a couple hours he was done with one door!
Monday 7
Tuesday 8
No building
Wednesday 9
I took a look at the ceiling panel and it was pretty bumpy so I lay in a bit of SuperFil with a broad blade knife and got it to go on pretty smooth. With a bit of luck it won't require much sanding.
Thursday 10
No building
Friday 11
No building
Saturday 12
I had a crack at making a wing rotator today. Its actually warm enough to work in the garage now so I spread myself out with a whole pile of two by fours. My jig is going to be very simple as I intend to put a hole in the wing tip end. I didn't get it finished but the idea seems pretty promising.
Sunday 13
Well the sun was shining and my wife had the day off and working in the basement didn't seem very appealing. We put the fold up bikes in the Comanche and went flying for the day.
Monday 14
Tuesday 15
No building
Wednesday 16
No building
Thursday 17
I still am not satisfied at the transition of the filler around the windscreen and I so re filled it this evening. I have found that some of the complex shapes fill okay by using a flexible nylon squeegee and smoothing out the filler with a hot air gun.
Friday 18
Saturday 19 ~ Sunday 20
We have actually planned to fly down to Atlanta for the weekend but the weather didn't want to cooperate. I would have been flying for at least two hours in solid IMC and I really didn't need to go that badly.
I removed the fiberglass ceiling panel and trimmed it to size. It was much lighter that the previous one, and weighed about 300 grams. I cut some upholstery and covered it. To make sure all the fabric stayed in place I screwed it up into the ceiling space and admired my work.
I purchased a main wheel fairing kit from Kim Prout so I thought I'd have a go at fitting it up. It was one of those fiddly jobs that took quite some time and I didn't get finished. Getting the attach point on the gear frame seemed to take lots of head scratching, measuring and re-measuring. My friend Marty came by and had a go at fitting the lock in the starboard door. I think my slow run must have pervaded the work shop because the second door didn't go nearly as quickly as the first, however at least we got the job completed.
Monday 21
I sanded it back the filler around the windscreen evening and its better, I guess I blind man would be glad to see it.
Tuesday 22
I rolled the aircraft on its side and so make it easier to fit the rear faring. Unfortunately the cradle jig comes a bit close to the belly of the aircraft so I had to spend an hour cutting out a section to get enough clearance.
Wednesday 23
Thursday 24
I took a rough cut at trimming the faring to clear the back of the wheel and to get it generally positioned. It was a fiddly kind of job and I was sure glad that I had the aircraft on its side. I found that sheet metal screws did a nice job of holding it in place and I doubt if I will bother with nut plates.
Friday 25
No building
Saturday 26
I finished off the wheel faring today. I did a final trim to size of both the front and rear faring and glassed in a couple of bulkheads to make the structure a bit more rigid. Unfortunately I got a bit carried away with my first guess at where to trim the rear faring for the wheel and had to put a bit of fiberglass back. As irritating as this is I keep reminding myself that it would be worse if I was making it out of metal.
While I had the aircraft on its side I fitted up a couple of acrylic inspection covers on the bottom of the aircraft where the fuel tank outlets go. I then did a quick tidy up of the workshop and stood the aircraft back up.