Trimmed and fit the intersection fairings. I reinforced them with flox per the plans. Drilled them out. Installed the nut plates in the wheel pants. Put everything back together. Gear fairing complete!

 

Prepared and installed the nose gear leg close out.

 

Mounted the fire extinguisher. Installed all of the carpets with adhesive velcro strips. I really like the Classic Aero carpets. They came with the trim rings for the power outlet and fuel selector. Looks nicely finished. Installed the fancy 3d printed rudder pedal extensions with my N number on them.

 

Pulled her out into the driveway and mounted the tail feathers. Remy helped me to trim and install the empennage fairing.

 

Today’s Time (hours):	20.00
Finish kit (hours):	393.0
Total Time (hours):	1127.0

 

Filled and bled the brakes. Used a pump type oiler to fill the system from the bleeder valves.

 

Installed my data plate and N number. I made the N number out of vinyl using my Cricut vinyl cutter. I ordered the data plate from https://www.engravers.net/.

 

Installed the com and transponder antennas.

 

Can you tell I’ve been procrastinating at the prospect of starting another fiber glass project? Trimmed and fit the forward and aft halves of the main gear fairings. Cut the hole for the gear legs. Deburred and primed all of the gear brackets. Machine countersunk the main gear brackets and riveted the nut plates on. Had to pause on the Main gear Legs. Couldn’t find the AN3H-3A bolts to mount the brackets anywhere. Ordered new ones from spruce and turned my attention to the nose gear.

 

Fabricated the nose gear stand-offs using an angle grinder, a file and the drill press.

 

Made a minor mod to the garage. Installed a D-ring so that I could use a ratchet strap to the tail tie-down ring to lift the nose wheel.

 

I set the breakout force on the nose gear using a digital fish scale and some safety wire.

 

I upgraded the nose gear axle to the Matco one. This place an extra AN3 bolt through the gear fork. It interfered with the right wheel fairing bracket. So I cut a bit out to make room.

 

Trimmed the nose gear fairing halves, fit and match drilled them together. Mounted it on the brackets and futzed with the whole thing for a while to get it straight.  Used a plumb bob to drop a longitudinal reference line to the floor. Had to use magnets to transfer the hole locations. They kept moving. Drilled multiple extra holes that I’ll have to fill later. Pure fuckery but managed to get everything situated reasonably straight.

 

 

Today’s Time (hours):	14.0
Finish kit (hours):	337.0
Total Time (hours):	1071.0