Fuselage September 2007 Updates
September 26, 2007
NITS and More Panel Paint.... - 2.0 hrs

Last night I shot the right side of the panel with the wrinkle paint and realized I did not install 2 plate covers for the 12 volt adapter and the EXP indicator panel. After the paint dried I installed them and shot another coat. The finish was fine but way to glossy which is what I was trying to stay away from.

I thought it was because it was not drying correctly and the instructions say you can add heat to kick off the process better. So I put it in the oven for a bit at 150. The wrinkles worked better but the gloss was still there. Then as I picked it up out of the oven my thumb touched the bottom edge of the panel and left a big thumb print. BUMMER.

So today on the way home from work I stopped by the hangar and picked up the die grinder with the scothbrite pads. Before heading to the hangar I wanted to redo this piece of the panel. I stipped the paint with the scotchbrite pads. Took 3 to get it all cleaned off. Then primed and headed to the hangar.

When I got to the hangar I was going to install the fuel line doubler but I need to rethink this as it is so close to the starter relay. Couldnt bring myself to trying to cut that big of notch in the doubler so I moved on to marking and drilling the holes for the mixture and prop cables. Again the parking brake is there now. Wow... I hope I can move these down just a bit. Next I installed the 2 diodes for the master and starter relay. At least I got something acomplished.

As I was leaving I had to get a shot of the Harvest Moon. Well I call it the Plane Builder Moon. In any event pics never do this justice. This moon was huge as it came up on the horizon. In the pic it just looks normal. Anyway then I went home and shot the final wrinkle coat on the panel. I left it overnight without looking at it so as not to have the urge to screw it up again. Turned out perfect! YIPPEE!

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.