The Worst Part Of Building An Airplane

Well it is time to start painting.  I dread it but it must be done.  The first stage is to prime all of the surfaces that we will never see again, mostly interior skins and frames.  To start we must Alodine the parts.  This went rather well.  There is some blotching going on but not too bad.

The rectangular piece is there for contrast.  It is uncoated.

I had wiped everything down with acetone before dipping it into the alodine trough but I did not make a point of erasing every Sharpie mark.  This prevented some alodine from adhering.  I'll do better on the next batch.

I was using a new HVLP gun I got from Chris and could not get it to spray like I wanted so I got some sagging, some splatter and some drips when paint came out of the top of the can because I did not have the lid on tight.  I am using Stits white EP-420 primer.

The second picture shows the drips.  Still not as bad as I thought it was going to look.

Though I did not get a picture tonight I am happy to report Bleriot is surviving this chemical assault.

I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

Still making final preps for the painting episode.  My new paint hood came in and it is a fashion statement

the statement being - What a dork!

while waiting for the mask to come in I made a couple of specialty propellor wrenches for Chris' RV-10 and Jerry's Pitts S-2A.

I even personalized them with their N numbers:

The AR is for the women in Chris' life, Audrey and Rebecca.

PS is for Pitts Special

I lined my alodine trough with double layers of 6 mil plastic

And I filled up the rinse barrel

Had a few anchor plate holes to drill too for the vertical fin root fairing.

I'll probably go over to Tmac's tomorrow night to see his new Airbike.  Monte's pig picking is Saturday so it may be Sunday before the actual painting begins.

Happy Easter!

Catching Up

It's been a couple of weeks since the last post.  This doesn't mean nothing is happening though.  Spent some time helping Chris get his RV-10 fuselage back from the painter's.  It is sweet.  the photos do not do it justice.

I have been ordering a few supplies for the upcoming painting sessions.  First was some Scotch Brite.  I wanted a special type so I mail ordered it.  The site said 20 pads to a case so I ordered 3 cases.  I didn't realize the pads were 6 X 9 inches big compared to the usual size, so now I have a ton of scrubby pads.

I also have been building some chicken wire covered tables for painting on.  These turned out good.

I made 3 that are 2 X 5 foot.  Should help painting the small parts.

Then there was the shop clean up.  I started with this.

And with Myron's help:

Ended with this:

Paint booth down -

Other end of booth

And tables layed out for parts and Alodine

I was tired after this and then managed to knock my Number drill bit set off of the bench.

That was a pain.

Have to do my taxes tonight.  No need waiting until the deadline you know!