Monday, December 3, 2012

Page 07-04 Build Time: 43 hrs

Spent a solid day yesterday getting the rudder to primer. Match drill the spar caps. Final drill the hinges. Trim one rib and de-bur all edges. I have my scotch brit wheel on my grinder now and it's a huge time saver - especially for trimming down the cut parts. I'm still very carful about getting a nice edge on the skins. I imagine most people don't take the time to get the skins butter smooth but they do have quite a few tool marks so I spend the time. It's therapy.

Scuffed and washed all parts and they're ready for primer. I weighed the first parts though primer and it was tenths of an ounce, (one tenth - sometimes it just didn't register). I was concerned about putting it on too thick but it looks like it's going to be fine. This primer is quite a bit more work but I do believe it's worth it - especially for me. At KPAO the field is located where they make salt. It won't be there permanently but my Cessna stays there long enough to warrant considering a paint job. It really raises hell with the paint. The home base for the Cessna is KCCR which is often down wind of all the refineries. If you know your corrosion factors then you know this is also a highly corrosive environment. I'm on the waiting list for a hanger at C83. If that comes through in a couple years I'm sure that's where I'll keep it. Until then, it will be at KCCR gathering the yellow spots from the neighbors.

No pics this time - not much to show. Did manage to get a paint booth together and I'm looking forward to taking the pain out of priming so I can pull some rivets. Speaking of rivets - I did set the VS bearing rivets with my squeezer. It took quite a bit to get a 1/8 shop head to spec. I'm good with a gun but prefer the squeezer if it's not too much work. I may just use the gun going forward but it requires a couple practice rivets before you put hammer to metal.

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