Yellow Wing #2

Just for the record, the second wing is now in yellow.  Two more to go!

Two brushed coats and four sprayed coats of Ekofill grey primer, Four sprayed coats of EkoPrime white primer. Sanded a minimum of three times  depending on how well I shot the primer. Usually, not so hot! Then five crossed coats of EkoPoly Federal Yellow.  No sanding thank Goodness!

Landing Gear Complete

#88 is back on its gear along with the floor board skin which must be installed before the main gear. The center section will likely be installed next.

Painting the Main Gear

Grounded! The fuse sadly waits while its landing gear is prepped and painted.

 The gear has been primed with PPG DP-40 epoxy primer and the fiberglassed fairings prepped with hi-build primer. I mounted both gear legs on one arm of the wing rotisserie so that they could be rotated to get to all of the weird angles.

All ready for the final top coats.

 Painting with the brake lines installed was a big PITA. I would not do that again.

Ready to install on the fuselage.

Here the gear strut is prepped and re-primed with DP=40 prior to adding the final top-coats.

Done! I plan to put #88 back on its gear tomorrow.

Covering and painting the fuse on the gear with the engine in place was also a big mistake. I wish I had covered and painted the fuse on a rotisserie. It would have been quicker, easier and I could have done a better job overall.

Fiber Glassing Landing Gear Fairings

Today I added fiberglass wraps for the landing gear /brake line fairings. I used medium weight biax glass cloth and West Systems 105/205 resin. I wrapped the brake lines with clear packing tape so that the epoxy would not glue them in place. Hopefully the fairings will survive the upcoming abuse a little better. Note that I have added flanged adapters to allow bolt on axles. THis mod is covered in earlier posts.

 Balsa fairing glued to landing gear tube.  A little body filler has been added to smooth the joint.

 Fiberglass cloth attached to fairing.  No resin yet. I used an old modeler's trick of using CA instant adhesive to tack the cloth in place.

 Here the ends of the cloth have been trimmed and tucked, again using CA to tack in place. No resin yet.

Saturated with West systems resin. Almost makes the cloth invisible,  I hope to get the gear primed and painted tomorrow.

Painting Center Section

I shot the white Ekoprime early this morning followed by the Federal Yellow EkoPoly this afternoon. I am slowly getting a little better laying the paint on.  Also I was talking to Ken at Stewart Systems yesterday and he gave me new mix ratios for the EkoPoly. It is now 4:1:1 EloPoly/catalyst/water which is quite different from the old numbers that I had been using. I think it works better with the new ratios. I will eventually learn to paint, just about the time I finish this project!

 Tank skins in white EkoPrime.

 Bottom view of tank.

 It's yellow now.

 The formed trailing edge skins show well in this view.

Sight gage made from a Stearman part.

Fuel outlet.

Center Section Detail Photos

Just a few shots of the center section with the top cover removed. The design and construction of the aft section of my center section including the grab handle is not per plans.

Center Section Prep

I have decided to paint and install the upper wing center section before I paint the remaining wings. This will allow the installation the wings as they are painted.  I am apprehensive about putting newly painted wings in the storage rack, I fear that they will get impressions in the paint as they sit

There are some older posts showing the design and construction of the aluminum plate handle.  The top skin was extended rearward to incorporate and tie in the handle.  More weight but slick and strong.

My buddy Tom is helping me close out the aft bottom skin.  We thought it would require several breaks to form the concave bottom.  Tom discovered the skins would conform with no breaks.  I will try to get a better shot to show this more clearly. The compound curves of outboard aft skins make the trailing edge very strong and stiff. If all goes to plan this will soon be yellow.

Yellow Wing

I painted the 1st wing yesterday. It turned out pretty well although I still tend to apply the paint a little too heavy. No runs or sags just more weight added to the airplane. Having said that, I am not certain that the yellow would cover with any less paint. Don't even think about painting yellow over  anything but white primer.

 1st. Wing in white EkoPrime ready for finish coats.

Federal yellow EkoPoly.

In the daylight.

The rotisserie is indispensable. If you don't want to make a cantilever rotisserie then you will need to provide some sort of support at the wing tip. I guess it could be in the form of a nav light mounting pad.