Ross Posted March 19, 2009 Author Posted March 19, 2009 20090212 Get wings ready for sloshing. Removed breather pipes & earth wires from both wings. Removed finger strainers from both wings. Removed quick drains from both wings. Fitted all tapped holes with brass plugs ready for sloshing tanks over the top of the original sealer. Need five plugs per wing. [ATTACH]7394.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7395.vB[/ATTACH] The completion of this was delayed by family commitments and availability of help.
Ross Posted March 19, 2009 Author Posted March 19, 2009 20090319 Prepare ailerons, flaps, rudder, horizontal stabiliser, vertical stabiliser for priming & undercoat. This may be extended to starting the port side of the a/c undercoat back to the firewall from the tail group. The starboard side is well down the track of undercoating and filling rough areas but needs more work around the horizontal stabiliser and around the cabin area up to the firewall. Undercoat/filler paint, top coat paint, their respective activators and thinners, spray gun, air gun, trestles, measuring jug (need to make up a dip stick) and electric drill to power paint stirrer, rags, spare acetone for cleaning, air gun, screwdriver, small hammer, protective clothing, latex gloves, mask, filters and air compressor were assembled. The gel coats of the control surfaces have all been rubbed down ready for priming and undercoat and cleaned with acetone and with compressed air. There is no sign of pin holes in the gel coat on these surfaces but the underlying fibreglass is exposed around the lever position on the elevator which will require extra attention (coats of filler & rubbing down). The hinges were all covered with tape to keep paint out of the hinge holes. [ATTACH]7398.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7399.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7396.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7397.vB[/ATTACH] All the captive nuts for the hinge pin safety lugs were filled with tape to prevent entry of paint. Possibly prime and undercoat the control surfaces tomorrow outside the car port providing it does not get too hot or windy.
Ross Posted March 20, 2009 Author Posted March 20, 2009 20090320 Undercoating control surfaces which all have a white gel coat except around the control horns like the lever on the rudder and the elevator and other unexpected tasks. Mixed up a pot of Dupont paint as surfacer on the control surfaces. Ratio 4:1:1 500 ml of 1040R Primer/Filler 125 ml of 1040R Activator 125 ml of 1025R Thinner Used paint stirrer on drill to mix it. Tipped it into the spray gun pot and cleaned out the measuring container. This gave about 75% of the capacity of the spray gun pot. From previous experience this gun has trouble sucking it up if thinner is not used with this paint. All the pieces were sat on soft material across two trestles outside the garage. As a surfacer, did one light coat on one side of each item then came back to do the other side by which time the original side was dry to the touch. I had just started applying surfacer to the aft port hull join area of the fuselage which was interrupted by an extra air noise followed by nothing happening at the spray gun. At this point water had also started coming out of the spray gun occasionally & dripping onto the job. It turned out that the compressor in its sound box was getting pretty hot. This had contributed to the short piece of curly plastic air hose connecting the compressor to the water trap & external pressure regulator failing where it connected to the compressor. So the remaining small amount of mixed undercoat paint in the spray gun was emptied out, disassembled and the gun cleaned with a rag & acetone without the assistance of compressed air. Next step was to get 4 m of air hose and m & f couplings with hose clamps and fit it to the compressor. It also turned out that the water trap was full of water - I will have to empty it more often. Just press the button at the bottom of the trap occasionally! I will also organise more air flow though the compressor box to help keep the compressor cooler. It turns out that the original paint order supplied was short by one litre of thinner for the undercoat/primer based on 4:1:1. As my gun seems to need the paint being thinned down to suck it up I would probably need more thinner for the undercoat and the top coat. The original supplier in a capital city would now only supply the Undercoat/primer thinner in 5 or was it 20 litre containers at around $170 plus freight (and I had to organise the carrier for this hazardous material) and there was still the thinner for the top coat to consider although it was still available in one litre containers. I finally thought I should be able to find a supplier using the internet but was frustrated for an hour or so until I located a wholesaler in Wagga. They were only too pleased to supply both of the thinners in any quantity as they "were used to supplying people at the airport in small quantities for spaying aircraft and had been doing so for the last fifteen years". I suppose a source there was obvious once you knew about it. See the water marks in the first pic. [ATTACH]7402.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7403.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7404.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7405.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7406.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7407.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7408.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7409.vB[/ATTACH] My hardware shop was out of stock of the right sized air hose clamps! Tomorrow I should improve the air compressor cooling, continue the surfacer painting on the fuselage (take it outside), then apply two coats of filler to the control surfaces and the fuselage. Complete the fuselage priming, it will need extra complicated masking which I doubt I will have time to do. Somehow I do not think that it will all be completed to that stage tomorrow.
Ross Posted March 22, 2009 Author Posted March 22, 2009 20090322 Yesterday, shifted some gear around in the carport to make it a bit easier to work on the painting. As well the wing holder had a couple of fixed wheels replaced by pivoting ones to ease manoeuvring the wings around and in and out of the carport. There was a shortage of pivoting wheels when it was originally built. Then some extra air holes were cut into the compressor box which improved the cooling of the compressor. Despite the box not being lined it still cuts the noise significantly. The rearrangement made it easy to wheel the a/c outside the carport which I had not done since the beginning of the build. It did tell me though that I have not got the wheel alignment right yet as the a/c was not very light to pull and the tyres squealed as it was moved on the smooth concrete. Another job to add to the list. On Sunday afternoon the control surfaces were moved outside and sat on planks & trestles before mixing up a batch of paint. After painting they were returned to another set of planks and trestles inside the carport. Painting was difficult on the control surfaces not giving a good finish. Later, after getting better results on the aft end of the fuselage which was inside the carport with a good breeze to take the excess away I realised the problem was caused by the ambient temperature being too hot which was obvious with hindsight and more experience. Most of the problem showed up as a reduction of the flow of paint from the gun probably caused by the thinner in the paint partially boiling as it was sucked up into the gun. As I had a gravity gun which had not been used before, it was tried out with a large improvement in the quality compared to the other two guns in the pic. [ATTACH]7416.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7417.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7418.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7419.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7420.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7421.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7422.vB[/ATTACH] The main difficulty with the gravity feed gun with the pot on top is that a stand is needed to put it on or hang it from when it is put down to refill it or to do another job otherwise the paint will probably leak out. The aluminium interference press on lid has a small breather hole in the middle. That particular gravity feed gun also has a small nylon like strainer that fits inside the top of the pipe that the top pot is attached too. There was some foreign material in this screen after just one pot of paint was put through the gun but it is easy to clean after each pot of paint. The pot is fairly easy to clean as it can be emptied almost to the last drop of paint unlike a conventional spray gun which leaves a significant amount of paint in the pot. After the paint was used up the pot was washed out with a solvent.
Guest brentc Posted March 23, 2009 Posted March 23, 2009 Ross don't take that as a definitive guise re the wheel alignmnet. Mine squeels all the time on shiny painted concrete particularly if no weight is on board and if it's running on the oustide edges of the tires.
Ross Posted March 23, 2009 Author Posted March 23, 2009 20090323 Took delivery of more solvent from Wagga today 120 km by road, $10 freight. The undercoat/filler thinner was $23.21/litre. The topcoat thinner was $22.91/litre Rubbed down the control surfaces. Used the hand scraper for any abnormal thick or local high bits or occasional runs. Used the hand board sander with an open mesh type sanding medium for more delicate bits. Used the orbital sander as the main tool - very productive compared to the others and no accidental scratches. Pic two was taken before the orbital sander was used - so now I use it first. I now know what an "Orange peel" type paint coat looks like. See the fourth pic well below the horn of the elevator near the bottom of the pic. The photo was taken part way through sanding it out to make it more visible to the camera. That pic also shows up some holes & pits that need filling before the next coat of paint. The undercoat that is being used is supposed to be a pretty good filler or bogging paint if used with no thinner and I will use it in the gravity pot paint spray gun. So one could go around and spot spray the pits and hollows and sand them before the next general coat. I will need to try that out along the join between the vertical stabiliser and the aft end of the fuselage as there is some filling required there to tidy up the join. [ATTACH]7423.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7424.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7425.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7426.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7427.vB[/ATTACH] Takes a lot of sanding to get the top irregularities of the "orange peel" down until the paint surface is smooth. So it was sanded until it disappeared. That was the only example on about one third of one side of the elevator. With a bit of luck it will be the only example.
Ross Posted March 24, 2009 Author Posted March 24, 2009 20090324 This is my second attempt to do this as the site crashed on me just as I had finished and was about to post. So I am posting this in stages to prevent doing it all again. Continued today with a bit of very heavy thick spraying with a minimum use of thinner to the point of run-off on some of the rough areas like the hull to vertical stabiliser join, some of the hinge surrounds and the back side of the horn area on the elevator. The paint was used with a minimum of thinner to maximise its filler action. We will see how effective it was after sanding this coat. It might need more than a day to cure because it was applied pretty heavily but there are plenty of other bits to do. [ATTACH]7437.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7438.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7439.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7440.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7441.vB[/ATTACH] Note the pin holes in some of the pics that will have to be filled. The two sides of the elevator around the horn area shown in the pics are at two different stages of coatings and sanding. The SS self tapper seen in the first pic and one not shown up near the rear of the port doorway is on the join line of the two halves of the fuselage. A line joining these two screws indicates the reference line that the top of the engine crankcase should be parallel with to get the correct thrust line. The motor can be tilted up or down by inserting washers between the engine mount and the firewall. I used a small laser level on the two screws to get them level by raising or lowering the tail to get them level. Once the hull line was level the engine can be levelled with a short spirit level on the top of the crankcase. This painting today only used about half a pot of filler mix but it was enough air being used to get the water trap close to full and the need to empty it. So I could need a larger water trap to prevent a problem during a top coat.
Ross Posted March 30, 2009 Author Posted March 30, 2009 20090328 Attended the workshop funded by CASA at Temora airfield "Line Maintenance Forum for Recreational Aircraft Owners, Pilots & Students". This one day forum from 10:00 AM until about 3:00 PM was run by volunteers from RAA members. 20090329 Allowed the very thick filler coat to cure for a couple of days before scraping and sanding it with the orbital sander. Not sufficient fill yet between the fuselage and the vertical stabiliser. So scraped and sanded the previous fill which still needed fill. So have used "Hot Shot" filler which is used by squirting some filler from a plastic bag with a screw top onto the area to be treated then applying a squirt of the supplied hardener also in a small plastic sachet with a screw top lid and mixing it. I used a SS table knife and a wide putty knife to mix and spread it. It has to be applied and spread within minutes before it cures enough to be useless. The package has no guidelines for use or the mix ratios required. My estimate of the relative sizes of the two sachets was my guide as to the ratio required. So it was experimental. I ended up scraping out one application completely as there was not have enough hardener mixed with it. [ATTACH]7476.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7477.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7478.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7479.vB[/ATTACH] The last pic is a bit misleading as it shows one of the stabiliser hinge areas with a piece of tape covering a hinge. The tape has a sliver of Hot Shot sitting on it which is not part of the stabiliser. Immediately behind that is the inside of the channel which has been extended to close the gap between rudder(not fitted in this pic) & the vertical stabiliser. I forgot to take a photo of the mess of Hot Shot that was there on the fuselage join before I started to scrape and sand it. Despite my comments it is fairly good to use where there is a rough fibreglass fill area to smooth up. The filling is not enough yet but is getting closer. As you can see from the pics around some of the hinge areas it can be very economical to use where there are are small deep holes or long faint ones to fill. In the last two pics I ran out of mixed fill and I had had enough for the day. Note that the application of Hot Shot filler, scraping and sanding it was all done on the same afternoon. It sets very quickly ready to work on.
Ross Posted April 23, 2009 Author Posted April 23, 2009 J160 Painting & Filling 20090423 Continued sanding & filling around horizontal stabiliser & vertical stabiliser joins to fuselage. Was able to get some 120 grit flap sanding discs for use in a battery powered drill to sand awkward inside radii like around the tear-drops and the fuse to vertical stabiliser join after starting off with 60 grit which was far too coarse leaving noticeable slits in the fill. Took the aeroplane out of carport into brighter light - a mistake, it showed up more blemishes & rough spots on the fuselage etc. Used "Hot Shot" to fill the horizontal stabiliser to fuselage join and also the ventral fin to fuselage join - the fin is the early type that is epoxied underneath the aft end of the fuselage whereas the later ones are attached with retained nuts and screws. [ATTACH]7834.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7835.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7836.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7837.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7838.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7839.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7840.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7841.vB[/ATTACH] The bad shirt front pic is supposed to show how hard it was to scrape the rapidly setting "Hot Shot" filler off a wide putty trowel. I gave up using the pocket knife and used a very sharp wood chisel instead. [ATTACH]7842.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7843.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7844.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7845.vB[/ATTACH] The fibreglass strip added to close the gap between the rudder and vertical stabiliser needed fill to smooth it up & it will probably need some more after initial sanding. Note in pic1 the new car which was my wife's price for getting a J160 kit. I could not stall it any longer. The old car was only 13 years old with about 165,000 km on the clock! My luck being what it is the day after we got the new car the washing machine died. It was probably about the same age as the car. So we ended up buying a new washing machine as well. My wife says she will go without a mothers day present from me this year! - I have to keep reminding her that she is not my mother! The car is a turbo diesel and according to the dealer is supposed to do 6.6 L/100 km. On the first tank of fuel it did 704.6 km according to the odometer and took 65.79 litres of diesel to fill the tank despite the tank supposedly only holding sixty five (65) litres. This works out as 9.33 L/100 km and is higher than the fuel consumption on our traded in Magna which ran at around 8.5 L/100 km on a trip!! The second tank looks more promising so far with 350 km on the clock with the fuel gauge now showing about a touch under 3/4 full. We should have spent the money on getting a factory J160 or a J230 and then that 705 km would have taken less than 30 litres of avgas at 100 Knots or better. Continuing the good luck got a ride to Natfly with the Leeton Sonex builder. We arrived on Friday afternoon in the rain and started to erect our two man tent in the light rain and then saw some of the most hair raising conditions for the arriving aircraft that I have seen for a while. We spent most of the afternoon in the club house out of the wind and near gale conditions. The rain stopped for the night so we had a good sleep but Saturday brought real rain during which we walked the aircraft lines and the company tent displays. We paid for the dinner Saturday night but were so cold and damp by that time that we decided to pack up and drive home to Leeton leaving the site in the mud and rain at about 7 pm. We arrived home about 11:30 pm. We had dried out and warmed up by the time we reached Wyalong. I heard there was abut 38 mm of rain at Dubbo over the Easter weekend and my gauge in Leeton recorded 1.5 mm.
Ross Posted April 24, 2009 Author Posted April 24, 2009 Filling & Sanding 20090424 Continued sanding & filling. Two separate short sessions today with two lots of visitors and the usual Friday distractions. The second small session was this evening when taking photos quite a few rough spots showed up which were filled while I could see them. See from the pics the result of mixing up too much Hot Shot for the first session today and later on to a lesser extent this evening as the hot shot was setting faster than it was applied. I think it lasted a bit longer in the cool of the evening but it was still pretty quick probably lasting less than five minutes before being unuseable. Taking a photograph of it did not help. This evening while taking the pics noticed a batch of rough spots along the fuselage and a big patch of "pin holes" in the gel coat that I had not filled previously near the port door frame. The "pin holes" would not fill if sprayed with undercoat and so would still show up in the final top coat. So they had to be filled with epoxy microballs or hot shot before undercoating. So a second small batch of hot shot was mixed and applied to these areas. It still went off before it was all applied and more wasted than was expected. [ATTACH]7848.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7849.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7850.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7851.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7852.vB[/ATTACH] You can see the change in the smoothness of the applied hot shot as it goes off in at least one of the pics. The evening fills can be seen in pics #8 and #9 and neither was sanded but probably could have been as it sets very quickly. [ATTACH]7853.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7854.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7855.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7856.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7857.vB[/ATTACH] There is still some awkward sanding to do of the filling done this morning under the horizontal stabiliser and along one edge of the ventral fin and probably some more filling and sanding on both before a final undercoat. The plane was a bit difficult to access as it was still in the carport the wrong way round. This morning, when I had the doors open ready to get it out and turn it around, it started to rain so plan B came into action - do it in the carport. By 8 pm this evening we had 9 mm of rain and now at 9:30 pm Yanco has recored 13.6 mm - not great but a usefull start for pastures in the area that got it. It looks like the Murrumbidgee catchment has missed out again receiving even smaller falls.
Ross Posted May 2, 2009 Author Posted May 2, 2009 Scraping, Sanding and filling 20090501 Scraped the areas that were filled in the last couple of sessions then sanded them and filled some of them again from the windows back to the tail group. Used the drill with small flap wheel 120 grit on the curved concave surfaces between horizontal stabiliser & fuselage and between the ventral fin & stabiliser & fuselage. The photo of the area near the port door in the last pic appears to show the pin holes from the previous session have been filled with "Hot Shot" - if they are not filled they will show up immediately once the next coat of paint is applied over them. [ATTACH]7911.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7912.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7913.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7914.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7915.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7916.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7917.vB[/ATTACH] I missed taking a photo of the underside of the port side horizontal stabiliser and ventral fin area which was scraped, sanded and filled again in this session. Once the fills from this session are all smoothed up then more undercoat will be applied and sanded until ready for final coat.
Ross Posted May 6, 2009 Author Posted May 6, 2009 Sanding, Filling & Undercoating 20090506 More sanding filling and undercoating Sanded the Hot Shot fills and then cleaned them and filled them again including the vertical fin around the added strip as well as both teardrops at the back of the cabin. Once these new fills were sanded again they were cleaned again then undercoat filler was applied. Virtually all the fuselage aft of the doors was done with extra coats on the rougher areas. [ATTACH]7994.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7995.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7996.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7997.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7998.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7999.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8000.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8001.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8002.vB[/ATTACH] The buckets of sand are used to counterbalance the plane to make it easier to push back into the carport and at the same time to lower the tail plane to get it under the carport entrance 10" RSJ and the added timber framing the doors. Once inside the top of the tail plane only clears the ceiling by about 5 cm without the strobe mounted! As you can see, my wife Joan took a photo of me as required in the log records occasionally. Because it was late afternoon and in the shade when these photos were taken the flash was switched on, a mistake apparently. All photos are flaring from the aircraft paint colour and therefor not showing any detail on the surfaces. A number of areas will need more sanding and filling probably with undercoat filler before it is ready to top coat.
Ross Posted May 21, 2009 Author Posted May 21, 2009 Filling & Sanding 20090521 Continued some sanding of the undercoat in the transition areas from fuselage to vertical stabilizer, fuselage to horizontal stabilizer, the eyelashes to back of cabin and the extension on the vertical stabilizer. These areas were then filled with Hot Shot and sanded again by hand and using the electric sander. The Hot Shot was spread with a "Handy Grouter" which I find much better and easier to use than a metal trowel that I had been using previously. It has a T shaped working edge so the thin part contacts the work and the thicker part supports the thin working edge. So the edge needs cleaning at the end of each filling session so I used a pocket knife to get the Hot Shot out of the two L shaped sides of the Grouter. I looked up the U-Pol website in regard to Hot Shot and saw that its setting time is about 4 minutes. So I have been attempting to do much bigger areas than is feasible with one mix. It has used up half its pot life while I was mixing it up and the result is a worse finish. The fills in these photos were done with two lots of mixes. Four lots would probably have given a better result requiring less work to smooth it up after it sets. It is ready for sanding in about twenty minutes. According to the web site, the mixing ratio is 100 parts of Hot Shot to 2 parts of DIBENZOYLPEROXIDE hardener. That is two percent! This is a bit hard to judge when one is squeezed out of a tube about five times the size of a tooth paste tube in about a 20 mm diameter stream and the hardener is squeezed out of a tube maybe a tenth the size of a tooth paste tube and emits a stream about as thick as a matchstick. So make both streams about the same length and their diameters will look after the volume ratio. The nearest supplier to Leeton according to the website is at Penrith. My original supplier was in Brisbane. [ATTACH]8148.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8149.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8150.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8151.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8152.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8153.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8154.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8155.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8156.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8157.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8158.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8159.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8160.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8161.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8162.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8163.vB[/ATTACH] Another one or two undercoat filler coats from the spray gun and sanding will go close to finishing off the undercoat for these parts of the aircraft.
brilin_air Posted June 3, 2009 Posted June 3, 2009 Everything has gone quiet in the hangar [garage] Ross, hope everything is going ok with the jab. Brian
Ross Posted June 4, 2009 Author Posted June 4, 2009 20090603 OK OK, I did actually do a little bit in the last couple of weeks. The dust storms then the cold damp weather did give me some excuse as I am trying to avoid as much dust then mud and fumes as possible so need to get the aircraft outside on dry, non dusty, not too windy days. I emptied our rain gauge this morning showing a total of a miserable 19 mm total after almost a week of so called rain (heavy inland rain according to the city based TV weather reporters). It took about three days before the rain stopped covering our car with muddy water. Did some more sanding of hot shot all around the tail feathers that was previously filled. Did some filling around the windscreen area and in the front of both door openings. These areas were then sanded. They will require some more touch up filling then sanding again. [ATTACH]8218.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8219.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8220.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8221.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8222.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8223.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8224.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8225.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8226.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8227.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8228.vB[/ATTACH] I was thinking some water based glue on the paper edge join might help the security of the windscreen protection! Any suggestions are most welcome.
brilin_air Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 Hey Ross, Good to see some work happening! All you need to do is get some fine line tape and mask the paper onto the fine line, and that will give you a neat straight edge to your paint. Also don't leave the masking tape on too long as it will be too hard to peel off. Good luck, you know how to contact me. All the best Brian.
Ross Posted July 29, 2009 Author Posted July 29, 2009 20090730 Got back from Sydney on Friday 24th in time for the Christmas in July Fly In at Brobenah for the Luskatyn Tigers who had also flown in earlier in the year. Apparently we had saved up more than enough cold weather for them. By Saturday night I had lost my voice and all I could do was watch and listen. I did not make it back to the strip on Sunday so only got a few pics. [ATTACH]8487.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8488.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8489.vB[/ATTACH] The particular one here, a very special J160 with a 3300 looks a very nice a/c and I saw it take off quite a few times. I was offered a ride in a Tiger which I gratefully accepted and managed to get a pic of Brobenah (Leeton) airstrip(s) in the pic with the town of Leeton about 5 km away in the background. The white blob in the middle of the town is one of the water towers that feature in the town. Now I know why I am building a kit plane with an enclosed cabin with a heater! [ATTACH]8490.vB[/ATTACH] For those that know the strip the Aviators Club House is just in the bottom left hand side of the pic with its attendant hanger just missing out. Just over the road the previously bare paddock is now covered with thousands of walnut trees (I think), about three or four metres high. Part of the local car club track is in the bottom right hand corner and the big red area in the middle right side is the now covered up rubbish tip which is no longer in use. A new much greener one is located due east of the town. Basically all the grey looking area is the airfield with part of it out of the picture on the left and on the right, about 600 acres altogether.
quentas Posted July 30, 2009 Posted July 30, 2009 a very special J160 with a 3300 looks a very nice a/c THAT is a tough looking aircraft!
Ross Posted September 27, 2009 Author Posted September 27, 2009 20090927 Sloshing the wing fuel tanks with Kreem This job was actually done some weeks ago and I had taken photos during the operation but had apparently forgotten to write it up and also deleted the pics. Bob Payne assisted me in this job as it's a bit difficult to upend wings on your own. These wing tanks as supplied were originally sloshed with an agent unsuitable for use with fuel containing ethanol. So I decided to slosh them over the top of the existing sealant with Kreem as supplied and advised by by Jabiru at the time. I am led to believe that later model fuel tanks are now sealed to cope with fuel with added ethanol. All the fuel line fittings from both wing tanks were removed and replaced with brass plugs from the local engineering supplies shop. Sat each wing tank in turn on a pair of saw horses. Mixed up a batch of Kreem diluted with acetone and poured it into the wing through the refuel hole and replaced the fuel cap. Sloshed the Kreem/Acetone solution around the wing by rolling the wing back and forth and over a number of times and also turning it end over end a number of times. After some time the outer end was raised, the drain plug was removed and the Kreem/Acetone mixture drained into a plastic jug. This was repeated for the second wing. Then it was repeated again for both wings using the remainder of the Kreem with a higher dilution rate of acetone. I will probably do this again with a higher volume of Kreem solution. I still have the header tank to do. Hint for cleaning out jugs etc. Pour remainder of Kreem solution into airtight containers and then seal the lids to prevent it evaporating and going solid. Do not attempt to wipe out the jugs with a rag - just let it cure. Once it is cured get a knife under an edge and peel it off like a pair of gloves. ************************************************** ***** Today Fairing for Rudder Cable exit. Made up a fairing for rudder cable exit to rudder from aluminium sheet. The first attempt was a failure with the cable not centered under the fairing. Old Drill holes will be filled, undercoated and sanded. The first attempt is shown together with the final version fitted but it will be removed, smoothed cleaned up and painted ready for installation. The fairing will be attached using SS screws fitted after fuselage painting to allow it to be fitted and removed without damaging the final coat on the fuselage. ********************* I had an extra photo that I could not get rid of despite deleting it from the inserted pic list in the text. It still appeared at the bottom of the post. I eventually highlighted all of the the post and copied it with a Control-C command except for the unwanted picture. Then created a new post session and pasted the copied data into the new post and then saved it. Then went and deleted the previous post with the extra picture that kept reappearing.
Ross Posted October 5, 2009 Author Posted October 5, 2009 20091005 Door Windows polish A bit of hind sight advice here - "a wonderful thing". All the scratches and mess on the door windows was basically my fault in not taking due care to prevent it. Some suggestions. The doors are a very awkward shape for holding and working on while inserting their windows. It probably would be well worth while to make up a frame to hold each door in a horizontal attitude for each way up securely while inserting and flocking in the windows. Covering each door catch handle with a piece of plastic tube first might prevent any damage from that source on the windows. The door frame holders could also help to store the doors with little risk of damage. Needless to say I had not done either of these suggestions - hence the need to buy kits to clean up the windows - probably al least $170 so far. Located the scratches on the starboard door then used a series of wet & dry abrasive cloths ranging from 1,500 grit to 6,000 to gradually abrade the area around each lot of scratches. I kept the abrasive cloth wet during the following processes. Making sure to work at least 45 degrees to any scratch mark that is being removed start with the coarsest cloth, 1500 grit, abrade the surface at an angle to the direction of the scratch until it disappears note that the cloth is making its own set of scratches but not as deep as the original scratches. Use successively finer cloths to remove the previously coarser scratches until the last cloth is used. Wipe off the residue from each process. Then applied Micro Gloss liquid abrasive onto a micro fibre cloth and apply it to the window. Rub it all over the previously cloth treated area. Keep rubbing in the Micro Gloss liquid until it disappears. If necessary apply more coats of Micro Gloss to get rid of any residual cloudiness from the abrasive cloth process. The pictures show most of the contents of two repair kits. [ATTACH]8843.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8844.vB[/ATTACH] The small bottle of Micro Gloss abrasive came with the abrasive cloths plus two small cotton linen cloths (not shown here) for applying the polish. The other kit had the larger bottle of Micro Gloss abrasive liquid and four green microfibre cloths.
Ross Posted October 7, 2009 Author Posted October 7, 2009 20091007 Polish port door window. The port side door window (the one below!) did not need nearly as much cleaning up as the starboard side door window so I only used the Micro-Gloss liquid without using the abrasive cloth. Applied liquid to the window then spread and rubbed across the window generally working at about 45 degrees to each polishing pass. Once the liquid had dried up while polishing continued to polish with a clean microfibre cloth until the window was clear. [ATTACH]8849.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8850.vB[/ATTACH] Talked my better half into making up two sets of covers for the doors out of old fleecy lined sheets which I had already been using for padding on top of saw horses. Should have done it ages ago. Shall have to edit the previous post - it was the starboard door - two r's in starboard for right side.
Ross Posted October 17, 2009 Author Posted October 17, 2009 20091017 Fit security to ignition switches. But first had my aviation fix at Narrandera with a couple of touch and goes and then a short flight to Leeton, Brobenah then return to Narrandera. It took a while to get organised as I did not know the arrangements for the aircraft, a Jabiru 230c, with the new owners now in possession. They had bought out Wally Rudin the previous CFI who was operating at Narrandera. I am not sure at this stage how far I have to go with security. So far this a/c has lockable doors, a lock on each door; keyed main switch which operates a relay to turn off the battery power for the starter motor and all instruments in fact all connection to the battery except for the key switch. Lockable bar for both ignition switches locking the battery independent ignition switches with a padlock. The engine can run with the main (keyed) switch turned off Today's effort was to fit the lock to the ignition switches which had not been allowed for in the original panel layout. Made up two aluminium channels with drilled holes to take the threaded portion of the ignition switches. Drilled through side of channel to take long bar of a long padlock - relieved the far hole to allow for some curvature in the padlock. [ATTACH]8882.vB[/ATTACH] Had to remove an original panel screw situated between the switches and slot the ignition switch holes to allow the switches to be closer together to accommodate the length of the padlock. Fitted another panel screw further around the panel below and to the right of the ignition switches. The screw is held by a retained nut riveted to the fibre-glass support.
Ross Posted October 19, 2009 Author Posted October 19, 2009 20091019 Door windows Polish After temporarily fitting the port door and seeing that the window that I previously "polished" looked disgusting with lots of shallow scratches and even some paint spots, I had another go at it with the "polycarbonate Rectification Kit". That was a step up from what I had been using so far. The first photo below shows most of what is in the kit. It included two sticky 5" sanding disks at 2400 and 3600 grit, and three different bottles of liquid polishing liquid together with a sticky 5" disk lambs wool applicator, and a sticky 5" sticky disk sponge applicator, a number of micro fibre cloths and a couple of flannel cloths. It also has a sticky disk holder with a spindle to allow it to be used in a normal drill chuck. I supplemented that with my battery powered drills and a 240 volt orbital sander with a 5" sticky holder. A water spray bottle from the local supermarket was a very useful addition during the polish process. [ATTACH]8896.vB[/ATTACH] The photos below show the changing clarity of the polycarbonate after successive passes with the polishing process. The back light in the middle or left of the photos is an extension trouble light in the cabin. The bright spot on the upper right of the photos is a reflection of the neon lights in the ceiling above the A/C cabin. [ATTACH]8897.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8898.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8899.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8900.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8901.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8902.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8903.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8904.vB[/ATTACH] Each pass started with a spray with water on the polycarbonate, then the first pass was a couple of goes with the 3600 grit using the drill to hold it with each run at right angles to the previous run. Once the grit was finished the window was washed and cleaned and then sprayed with water ready for the first liquid polishes which was applied with the lambs wool applicator again at right angles for each run. That liquid polish was repeated with a wash in between polishes. The next liquid was used for another couple of polishes with the same procedure of spraying and washing in between. The last liquid polish was applied with the sticky sponge on the end of the electric drill. The gear was all washed in a light detergent and hung up inside the house to avoid dust on the micro fibre cloths. Both the inside and outside of the window was done. I spent about four hours on that window. It is not perfect but a big improvement.
Ross Posted October 20, 2009 Author Posted October 20, 2009 20091020 Door window polish (starboard door) The starboard door was temporarily mounted on the fuselage to facilitate handling & inspection during the window polish. The door was tied so that it could be opened & pushed in the polishing process w/o damaging the hinges. Both sides of the starboard door window was polished as done for the port door window. The photos from inside show a couple of the stages, first one is after the first liquid polish, second one half way through a wash and clean up between polishes, the third one is final polish on the inside of the window. [ATTACH]8928.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8929.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8930.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8931.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8932.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8933.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8934.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]8935.vB[/ATTACH] The rest are some shots after some of the polish passes on the outside of the window. The reflection of the open outside garage door behind me in the bottom right hand side of the last five photos is gradually getting less of a halo around it as the polish on the window is getting better.
Ross Posted November 4, 2009 Author Posted November 4, 2009 20091104 Cover fuselage door hinge recesses old style door hinges Trimmed off existing wide cover off back of door hinges brackets as it needs an excessively sized space to clear the fuselage in the fuselage hinge recess. Cut out four new covers from spare material to blank out the hinge recesses. Cut slots in the covers to suit the thickness of the door hinge brackets. With the doors in place, fitted slotted cut out covers with self tappers while checking clearance by swinging the doors. Due to sloppy hinge pins & holes, large clearance was needed to allow for door hinge bracket clearance in the slot. Once clearance is OK sanded fuselage in hinge area back to fiberglass - cleaned up sanded area of fuselage & new covers with acetone. [ATTACH]9049.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]9050.vB[/ATTACH] Applied "5 minute Araldite" to new covers and matching positions on fuselage, fixed with self tappers. Checked door clearance as each cover is done. Wiped off excess araldite with acetone rag. Allowing to cure Once the araldite has cured the self tappers will be removed, the holes filled, and fill applied around the covers to smooth them up. With these external covers over the hinge recesses it should be easier to reduce air flow into the cabin.
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