One of the things I recall when I started this project was not to paint until after about one year.  That’s because there are lots of tweaks that get made during Phase I flight testing and just after.

And (for me) that was good advice.  While I didn’t have to make any wing incidence adjustments, there were a number of minor changes that would have been painful to make had the plane been painted.

Started working towards paint last fall. But after a number of delays, I finally went down to Sebastian to begin the process. I flew down on Monday morning and by the end of the first day, most of the plane was disassembled.

By lunch time on Tuesday, all removable, paintable parts had been removed. On Thursday, I began sanding. Fortunately, the plane was in really good shape.  The primer had yellowed which made for a really nice guide coat. It wasn’t as easy to see as a traditional black guide coat but other than pinholes, it worked very well.  For pinholes, a flashlight and pencil worked out just fine.

By the end of the day on Monday, everything was sanded out and most of the pinholes were filled. At this point, I had done all that I could do.  Actual masking and painting is best left to the professionals. So I drove back up to Panama City to wait for the call to come down and start putting everything back together.