4/24/2008
I forgot Brit had her monthly kennel club meeting tonight, so I got an unplanned night in the garage!
The other night I ran in to a problem with my planned defrost vent location because of the tip up braces, and the EXPBUS location. I hope to solve that issue with these-
I found these on Ebay for one cent. Yep!, and I actually got three of them, brand new, for one cent! If I use them, they will qualify as the only items on the airplane that I can truly say I can afford! ;o) I was the only bidder, and shipping was $4.99. So for five bucks, I have mini computer fans that I might use for defrost fans!
Installing the reinforcement braces was first on the list tonight. Solo riveting these wasn't too difficult, but I still would've preferred some help. They turned out fine though.
I think that looks sweet! 'Course, it is mine, so of course I like it! I painted these red for two reasons. One, I like red. Two, I'm borrowing a saying from my rock climbing days...If you see red, you're dead. That was the check we always used when securing carabineer clip locks. In this case, if for some reason I have forgotten to read the checklist prior to take off and the canopy is still in it's "taxi" position, I will be able to see the red braces. With it closed fully, they are not seen.
The canopy frame is a bit more rigid at this point, but is still flops around somewhat. I put the frame back on the fuselage next...
Then I clamped it fairly close to where it will be for fitting the canopy.
The forward-aft skin was then put back on the fuselage to make sure everything is where it should be for getting the canopy right.
It's getting close to being warm enough to work on the canopy, but not quite there yet. Tomorrow afternoon, the temps are supposed to fall back to the 60's, and our highs for the next week or so will only be in the upper 50's and 60's. No canopy work for a while yet.
This weekend is hopefully going to be my big spring cleaning of the garage. I plan to take everything out, clean it and rearrange it. I hope to get my new fuselage stands made over the weekend or first of the week as well so I can take the engine mount and main gear off to get the fuselage back to a more workable height.
2.5 hours