Getting the wingtips on will not only give us an idea of the full span, but will also allow us to play with all lighting options! Unfortunately, fitting wing tips is more laborious that fitting wings. With about 40 nutplates each, and fiberglass that requires alignment and adjustment, (though I will note, the glass here […]
So most of this landed on Instagram rather than here and YouTube, but here’s the skinny: I created an oil door. More than that, I modified the original oil door in a few ways: A hidden, or blind, hinge from Aircraft Spruce, a reinforced hatch to prevent flex and with it: in-flight openings, and an […]
Work continues on the tail fairings, where I’m eager to get a good fit. Abandoning the Van’s fairing for one from Fairing’s Etc., I’m hopeful that I’ll wind up with a better transition between these airframe components. Initial fit shows similar gaps to the Van’s fairing, but the unit is much easier to rework. I’m […]
Time to start on another fiberglass portion of the build: the bottom rudder fairing. This piece was trimmed along the factory line and the fit was pretty good right from the get-go. Holes were drilled and nutplates installed for mounting. The fit wound up being sub-par. Buckling/pukering and some “dog-earing” toward the front of the […]
After three-four sessions of primer and sanding, the skirt was finally in a condition where I felt comfortable attaching it. The underside of the skirt required white primer, where it would show, to match the cockpit, but black primer where attaching to the canopy and side skirts. (The black primer is the first component of […]
The canopy, windscreen, and side skirt junction wound up about as clean as I could have asked for, highlighted here in the photo.
I love how the wet paint highlights how uniform the skirt actually is.
I did an initial trim of the skirt, cutting along the far line that I made (approximately 3/4″ outside of the “final” trim line). I like the proportions of this so much it may become the final trim line. The low spot, created by the rear canopy lip, is visible when holding a ruler to […]
There’s a notable dip in the skirt, stemming from the high lip on rear of the canopy. I hoping a little filler will be able to go a long way here. Otherwise, the skirt is pretty fair from the tape technique used, and I’m overall very happy with it.