emkrueger830
Fuselage Paint Prep – Part 2
Finished prep of the fuselage for paint by masking off the ELT tray and straps, covering the baggage area with plastic, and masking off the seating area and firewall. Fuselage now completely masked and ready for paint. Hours Worked: 0.95
Fuselage Paint Prep – Part 1
Began prepping fuselage for paint by removing tail components and setting off to the side. Removed inspection covers, pitot plumbing fittings, wing connectors, and vents from fuselage as well. Taped off edges of windshield with nice striping tape, then finished covering windshield with kraft paper and blue painters tape along with canopy sill on aft…
Hole Filling
Finished fuselage conversion steps by applying jb weld to holes from original side skin left over from conversion process. Hours Worked: 0.14
Tail Tip Fairings – Part 2
Started process of final shaping of the tail tip fairings by mounting fairings back onto the tail and contouring leading edge with 80 grit sandpaper. Luckily put enough SuperFil into each cavity that there was enough material to work with. After tips were shaped, removed them and sanded entire tip with 120 grit then 240…
Tail Fairing Panels – Part 2
Continued to work on tail fairing panels by annealing panels via sharpie method; scribbled sharpie on the panels then heated them via torch until sharpie marks began to disappear. After annealing, worked panels over a couple scrap pieces of pipe to work curve into the panels; this method worked much better than expected. After shaping…
Canopy Installation – Part 1
Began final canopy installation by drilling the rest of the hinge rivet holes in the upper longeron and installing rivets. Quick painted the rivets by hand with a brush along with other minor touchups of black paint. Updrilled canopy hinge and side trim holes to 9/64″ and deburred. Installed closure spring on the canopy latch…
Tail Tip Fairings – Part 1
Began prepping fiberglass tail fairings for final fit by marking front overhang on each fairing to note how much filler will be needed to recontour the leading edge. Removed fairings from the tail and used SuperFil to build up inside crevice of leading edge. Also put SuperFil in any divots in fairings. Trialed using SuperFil…
Tail Fairing Panels – Part 1
Began working on the tail fairing panels by cutting out template from plans on poster paper and mocking it up on the fuselage. Because the tail skin was installed upside down and needed extra trimming, will need to modify plans template. Expanded template forward and outboard to better match profile of upper fuselage and cover…
Broken Tap Extraction
Spent most of the time getting the broken off tap out of the canopy frame. Tried to remove it with cutting fluid, heat, and punches but would not budge. Ended up purchasing two solid carbide drill bits and slowly drilling out the tap. Boogered up the hole a bit in the process but the canopy…
Canopy Trimming – Part 4
Updrilled canopy alignment holes in upper longeron with #F drill bit. Continued to trim, sand, and deburr canopy to achieve 1/16″ gap all around; finally achieved. Worked on latch mechanism by removing lower nylon washers to lower latch assembly slightly. Used a light coating of LPS-2 between canopy frame and latch to make it slide…
Canopy Trimming – Part 3
Continued to trim and fit canopy. Matched drilled final holes in LH side of forward and aft canopy bows and realized that canopy was pulling up the frame in the front by about 1/4″. Unbolted front left corner of canopy frame and added 1/8″ spacer to lengthen the front bow area. Also added rubber washers…
Canopy Trimming – Part 2
Continued to trim canopy by taking small bites with 80 grit sandpaper and scotchbrite die grinder. Cleaned edges with deburring tool after each cut. Trimmed canopy so that majority of it would fit in between windshield and turtle deck. Once rough trimming was complete, drilled pilot holes for clecoes looking through canopy at bows. Started…
