Now it’s time to get ready for the first coat of primer. Like on the bottom, we’ll start with the gray primer. There are a couple of places that we simply can’t figure out if we have a low spot or an area surrounded by some high spots. Once the gray primer is one, then we will (hopefully) be able to figure it all out.

Here’s the “before” shot with the (top) in full “spotted dog” mode.

Since Malcolm has only one respirator, he did just about all the spraying. I mixed when he ran low on primer.

Spraying primer.

Almost done

The “after” shot. (we put the canard on hatch covers on just because)

Malcolm suggested painting a mouth with teeth under the nose since it looks like a shark.

And here’s another reason to prime at this point. The plane is COVERED with pinholes. They’re almost impossible to see until the surface is in a single uniform color. Once it is, they are VERY easy to see.

Before starting on the sanding of the primer, the radius at the strake/fuselage intersection has to be done (again). The bottom is already done, now it’s time for the top.

This is another one of those artistic things that Malcolm absolutely rocks at. 🙂

Malcolm whips up a batch of thick micro and puts in the corner. Then he uses his custom made radius tools to create a uniform radius. (I have to remember to bring my camera. These are with a camera phone)

The intersection between the winglet and the wing gets a radius too. Just slightly smaller.

Return of the spotted dog

With the pin holes filled and the radius done, it’s time to sand. Most of the sanding should be uneventful. But some areas will be… enlightening. There were a couple spots on the wing where we just couldn’t figure out what was going on. High spot? Low spot? But with the whole area in gray, once we started sanding these areas, it became crystal clear. On the copilot wing, there were some low spots. But they aren’t low enough for micro and they were too low for primer.

Time for some backyard chemistry.

We decided to to mix micro balloon with the Akzo-Nobel gray primer. Since the micro balloon is inert, there shouldn’t be any reaction with the primer. I thought that we should do a small amount on a test area but Malcolm was absolutely certain there wouldn’t be a problem so we charged ahead. I mixed up the concoction and applied it with a roller (no way to spray it since it was real thick).

Here’s the result.

http://www.velocity-xl.com/pictures/2011/IMAG0349.jpg

I had to head home the following morning but Malcolm says that it cured fine, sands easy and filled the low spots.

I hate sanding!!! Just spent the last week sanding in prep for the final priming. Between sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding, filling… I’m just done. No pictures because there’s just nothing worth taking a picture of. But… I finally got the copilot wing figured out. Well, maybe not “figured out” but it’s right. I don’t know if it was a high or a low spot, but now it’s true.

Hopefully, before I leave, we’ll at least have the final coat of gray. The biggest problem now is heat. We had to quit at 3pm today. I went to pick up a countersink bit and the thermometer in the Explorer read 116 at 4pm today. And yes, that’s Fahrenheit. At these temps, the primer will kick before we can spray it.

After spending the week working on the fuselage, all we accomplished was to get the final coat of gray primer/filler/sealer. And of course, there were more pinholes. Malcolm’s philosophy is that every time you find/fix 90% of the problems. There will always be more. But eventually, you reach the point of diminishing returns.

I have a weekend between a Nexus class in Washington, DC and one in Richmond, VA. So after class on Friday, I flew into Greenville and on Saturday morning we started the final sanding. When I landed on Friday afternoon, the thermometer on the plane read 63! A really bizarre cold snap for the middle of July but perfect for spraying.

We spent all day sanding, washing, rinsing and masking.

Here’s that damned right wing. I thought we were done with it.

After the final sanding, the spot reappeared. It feels like a low (or flat) spot in the middle. But we keep sanding through to what seem to be ridges towards the front and rear. We went back and forth about what to do. We settled on looking at it when it was wet from the washing. When we did, it looked fine. So in the end, I made the call: Charlie Mike.

Here’s the view on Sunday morning.

And 5 hours later (Malcolm is working on the second coat):

After I left, the temps returned to their normal 90+ level during the day. Which means a really good post cure baking.

The best part is that we’re done with sanding.

So with Oshkosh, my wife’s family reunion in Panama City, FL and a diving trip to Cozumel, there hasn’t been much time for building. Besides, building in 90+ degrees is not fun.

I have a Nexus class in Columbus on the 19th, so the plan is to head down to Greenville on Wednesday and spend a couple days building before heading up to Columbus, OH.

On Tuesday, I made the 10 minute flight up to Burlington, WI to fill up with fuel. When I left the house for the drive to the airport, it was… smokey. At first, I thought someone was burning brush. But it was like this all the way to the airport. On the radio. they said it was from a brush fire in MINNESOTA?!?!

This is a picture from 1,500 feet above the ground.

After a quick flight down to SC on Wednesday I got started just after noon. Remember the post that said “No More Sanding”? Well, there’s done, there’s Done and then there’s DONE. At this point, I’m done. The outside of the plane isn’t completely finished. So I got started with the control surfaces (ailerons, rudders, elevators and various hatch covers.

Malcolm has a neat trick for painting horizontal control surfaces (ailerons and elevators). It’s important to keep the trailing edge as light as possible. Usually, when you hang these parts, the trailing edge is hanging lower than the leading edge. This means that as the wet paint moves (and wet paint does move), it ends up at the trailing edge making it heavier.

So this is the Hangar 18 painting rig.

Notice how the trailing edge is up? And that the parts are staggered so that you can access both sides? Like I said, pretty neat.

Here’s Malcolm shooting paint (actually, primer) again.

After this, the only parts left to paint are the engine cowlings. But that can’t be done until the engine is installed. I hope to start the engine installation in the next day or so.

In addition to the control surfaces, there are torque tubes, rudder horns and counterweights that also need to be painted. For that I’m using Rustoleum Epoxy Appliance paint.

Here are the elevator torque tubes, rudder horns and elevator counterweights (and one of the rudders from yesterday).

The aileron torque tubes got painted too. At Malcolm’s suggestion, I replaced the aluminum torque tubes with steel. He says that the aluminum tubes have too much twist.

Alter all the parts dried, I assembled the elevators. Here are the elevators (the ailerons are towards the back).

Then I assembled the canard and mounted it in the plane and put on the doghouse and hatch cover because… well, because I haven’t seen my plane white and with the canard installed. 🙂