Finish Kit Update May 2010 Updates
May 16, 2010
Wheel and Gear Fairings.... - 4.0 hrs

Back to work on fiberglass crap. Well I hate this stuff. First I cut the new hinge piece and drilled it on the drill press to match the other side. Then I started work on the upper intersection fairings. Jim split his because they were to tight when you slid them into position. I decided to trim the back edge of the gear fairings. I marked a line about an 1/8 inch from the back edge and used the long PermaGrit block to cut the edge back to the line. This thing works great and you can still keep a nice flush square edge since its a long block. I used the rough side to get almost to the line I drew and then used the finer side to smooth out the final edge.

After that I test fit and still had to take a bit more off. Turned out nice in the end. Just needed some patience and the right tools. Its always the same answer. After I got the right side done I moved on to the left. It turns out once I got the fit right the back of the intersection fairing sits right where the COM antenna is. I drew the outline and trimmed to fit. Its all hidden so I can make it work. I just wish I knew that was there I could of moved the antenna into the next bay or moved it back some to clear the fairing.

Next I jacked up the plane and started leveling it from front to back and then side to side. I wanted to get the tires just off the ground so they would swing into position and then try clamping the wheel fairing to the outside bracket. I used 1 inch pipe to get the upper clearance over the tire.

I still need to mark some lines to make sure the front and back of the wheel fairings are straight and true before I do the final drilling. Still couldn't bring myself to do it. I have a mark on the edge for the outside bracket but it will take some work to square up the fairing to drill the inside to the bracket.





This website was built to document my work in compliance with the FAA requirements needed to certify my aircraft.
My experiences and comments are by no means to be considered as instructions on how to build any aircraft.