I am back from a 2-week hiatus. Arlene and I took a trip to Pennsylvania to
visit Wade, Sarah and the kids. It was a
lot of fun. On Wednesday, April 9th
we flew to Buffalo, NY where Wade met us and drove us to their home in
Erie. We worked on a few projects for a
couple of days and then on Saturday we left to drive to Washington, DC. We were the until Thursday the 17th when
we drove back to Erie. We flew home on
the 18th. Today I went to the
hangar and worked on a few simple things while waiting to meet with Dave
Wissinger. I installed the fuel pump
fuse and checked the cooling fans on the instrument shelf. They work.
I sanded the inside edge of the canopy fiberglass. It will make it look better when it is
painted and will give me a smoother surface to install the canopy seals. I also removed the masking installed when I
touched up the inside of the canopy and I think it looks pretty good. Hopefully I will be the only one who will see it because I know
it is there.
I met with Dave and he is going to start
painting the airplane this week. I
decided to go ahead with the paint while waiting for the FAA to issue my
registration papers. I removed the
struts on the canopy and put some masking tape along the edge of the area I
want the painter to paint. I have
decided I want the inside front portion of the canopy to match the paint on the
upper fuselage skin. I think it will
look better that way when the canopy is open.
I meet with Dave Wissinger at noon. I gave him a check for 50% down on the
paint. I also selected a deep red color
for the upper fuselage and wing tips. I
decided against a maroon, which turned out to be too purple for my taste. I will get a sample of the color to take to
Sign*A*Rama so they can prepare some new N numbers in the right color. I then started to disassemble the
airplane. Dave is going to pick-up the
pieces in his van truck and transport them to the shop then return them and
pick-up a new batch. He asked me to
remove the empennage and disassemble the pieces. Also, remove the flaperons from the wings,
remove the canopy (which is already off) and the engine cowl and spinner. The poor airplane looks pretty forlorn in its
new condition.
I also decided it would be good to mark the
flaperons where they need to be trimmed to clear the fuselage. Right now when fully deflected in the up
position the skin scrapes on the head of a rivet. This occurs on both sides. I used
a straight edge and a marker to mark both the right and left flaperon so
I can trim the ends after I remove them from the wings.
I continued to remove parts and pieces and
stack them on the work table, stand and on the floor. Tomorrow afternoon Tim and I will go to the hangar and remove
the wings and take the flaperons off so I can trim them.
