KR> working on the plane
NetHeads, I don't know if I've mentioned it or not, but the big crunch is over at work (although another one is brewing on another project) and I've informed the powers that be that I will be taking every morning off for the next two months. We either have to use our vacation or lose it, and I've been losing for the last few months. My plan is to hit the hangar at 6:00 AM (my usual appearance time for "real work"), and will get in a good four hours a day of body work and whatever else needs to be done during the coolest part of the day. Then the hot hangar creates the perfect oven for curing so I can sand that evening or wait until the next morning, and I spend the afternoon in my air conditioned office. The goal is to make the plane less embarrasing, and head towards "completion". Stuff like lights and strobes, wheel pants, instrument panel glare shield (with lighting), spinner, "finishing" the wings, stub wing gap seals, and that sort of thing. In only one week I've already fixed most of the big bubbles in the skin, uncovered the landing lights (I need to make new plexiglas covers, ever since one of my kids fried them by turning them on in the basement while they were covered with black electrical tape), halfway finished the spinner, etc. And oh, did I mention I fly it early in the morning or late afternoon almost every day? Then I do some more bodywork and head home. Maybe I'll even get a new cowling done for it before the Gathering, although that's probably just a dream. I'm still thinking that paint will be next Spring, but it's possible I could get crazy and do it this Fall, if I really do get to take off as much as I'm hoping. I'll also build another 3100cc Corvair engine, if I ever get the parts I need (special machine work to the parts, I should say). 265 KR hours and 620 KR landings to date, not counting the bounces. The weather has been really calm and rain free lately, so I can fly just about any time I want to. Life is good. Back to the spinner bulkhead... Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama see KR2S project N56ML at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford email to N56ML "at" hiwaay.net --
KR> working on the plane
. In only one week I've already fixed most of the > big bubbles in the skin, Mark How did you repair the bubbles. That is on my agenda for this afternoon. I bought a large plastic syringe and was planning on filling it with micro, drilling a 3/16" hole in each bubble,injecting, and putting some weight on each to hold them down for cure. Up too today I have had N357CJ out of service for 11 days. Only 3 would have been VFR. So I have not missed much. I have done many things along with the annual that I had left go and even hope to have graphics done to maybe go to OSH. ( that's where the wife pays for forgetting our 25th anniversary a couple weeks ago) The major things that I have found and repaired for annual are : replace front tire, repack wheel bearings, repair broken intake tube, added some air dams inside cowl to deflect air to middle cylinders, repair and repaint nose pant, repair NACA air vent, install mixture meter, replace batteries in ELT, A host of checking and securing every screw and nut that I can get to, lubrication. This afternoon will be ignition check and parts with a run up and a timing check. Should be ready to fly again tomorrow with a good level of confidence that N357CJ is very airworthy. Joe Horton, Coopersburg, PA. joe.kr2s.buil...@juno.com
KR> working on the plane
Joe Horton wrote: > How did you repair the bubbles. I tried the syringe thing, but the results were not outstanding. Although I'd injected epoxy all around the perimeter of the bubbles, and worked it in by hand, after weighting down a heavy bag of topsoil (sand would have been better) with even more weight, I still got pockets of epoxy trapped beneath the bubble. That made a real mess, and I eventually cut out all around it and simply feathered the edges, microed the foam again, and applied a carbon fiber patch. That worked much better. I just finished the spinner and one stub to outer wing gap seal, with number two coming this afternoon... Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama see KR2S project N56ML at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford email to N56ML "at" hiwaay.net --
