Inner Wheel Pant fairing

So the results are in the wheelpant inner fairing that I used clay to make a mold and then layed up the E-glass directly on it came out great! 2 more layers and some light body filler and some sanding this will clean up nice. I highly recommend doing it this way if there are no other options. The clear packing tape I used to mask off the existing pant released the glass very easy no pain what so ever. It took some clean up because some of the clay came with the glass but it just scraped out and then I let the very thin layer of clay left over dry then just hand wire brushed it out. Now time for the other side.

 

Time spent 1.5 hours

Wheel Pant inner fairing

Today i took the plunge and layed up some E-Glass over my clay and hope for the best.  I will let you know more tomorrow after everything drys.   For now attached are some pictures.

  

Time spent 2.0 hours

Flying

So I got of work early on Friday and it was a beautiful day I just had to go flying so I did. I had only 45 minutes to before the sun went down so I got it about 0.3 not much but good enough.

Saturday was a nice day clear blue skys but cold.  I could see my breath in the cockpit and I was bundled up like the Michelin man.  I flew some of my Intermediate Freestyle and then proceeded over to Tappahanock for some inexpensive gas. St Marys is at $4.49 per gal and Tappahanock is $3.99 at that point it is almost worth it to ferry some of it back but with my fuel tank not holding much It doesn’t make to much sense for me to do very often but I had been itching to go over and check out the brand new airport and FBO bunch of nice people and a nice facility. Saturdays total flight time was 1.1 hours.

Flight Time Fri/Sat 1.4 hours total flight time since rebuild 54.6 hours

Wheel Pants Again

Finally got around to figuring out how to fair in the inside where the brakes and gear legs come together. I couldn’t figure out how I was going to make a mold to glass it in. I had heard of RV builders using Clay to make the shape they want and then glassing over the top of the clay. Needless to say I will remove the clay afterward. Today I went to Michaels and bought 10 lb of modeling clay $6.99. I masked off the area around the pant and gear leg interface. I then grab glob after glob of clay and molded the fairing shape that I needed right on the plane. This clay is air hardening so I made some joints to brake the clay up to managable sections once it hardened. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow night. It may be just too cold for the clay to dry. If it never dries plan B will be to lay up the glass on the plane.

  

Time spent 1.5 hours

Oil Analysis #2

I got my second oil analysis back today form Aviation Oil Analysis.  Code 100 which means everything is normal. Sweet the new engine is running sweet.

Flying

Flew 1.5 hours this weekend some more of the 2008 intermediate sequence man figure two takes some screaming to keep awake damn near got me again. I need to get my G shape back. The second flight I went over to Cambridge with a friend in a Grumman Cheetah. He asked me to go with him in form but he was just taxiing out when I was in flight and I didn’t have enough gas to wait for him. Anyway I told him I would meet him there. He had engine problems Turned out to be chunk of lead in the plug. Anyway got some semi cheap gas $4.20 gal and flew back to Pax.

Flight time today 1.5 hours time since rebuild 53.28 hours

Flying

Another gorgeous day so I needed to get my G on. I practiced the 2008 intermediate sequence figure 2 could be a little dangerous if your not screaming your heart out to stay awake. Not sure what the selection committe was thinking on this one. Anyway I flew down toward my buddies house and practiced over the bay near their house pretty much gave them a pregame show before the Superbowl they loved it to say the least. After that I flew over to to the Ranch Club and landed there taked to a nice guy named Pete who owns an RV-4. I flew back to 2W6 and put the bird away while Eve and I went to grab a bite to eat. It was just such a nice day I decided to go for one more hop. As luck would have it John my buddy with the Pitts S-1C was taxing out. We decided to work on some formation flying and then a little follow the leader which can be fun. My roommate asked me later that night if I was flying because he saw two biplanes chasing each other around the sky I said yup that was me. I came back to St Marys and did 3 touch and goes traffic was pretty bad so I decided to call it quits.

Flight time today 1.5 Hours total flight time since rebuild 51.78 Hrs

Flying

Absoultly gorgeous weekend likely the best this year for winter atleast. I took Eve, a Coworker and his girlfriend over to Cambridge in a rental 172 which flys like a dog after flying the pitts but everyone knows that anyhow. After getting back I told my hangar neighbor that I would be his safety pilot while he got his currency back on some approaches. So all in all I spent 3.7 hours flying around the Maryland area no Pitts time today but tomorrow is supposed to be great as well.