Coy inspecting the finished job.
Recovering page 3
Friday, January 9
2.5 hrs and
Saturday, January 10
3 hrs
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| We finished both wings. Three coats of Insignia White. The light streaks on the pics are reflections of the paint booth lights. Now this is fabric that's doing all that reflecting, not metal. Is the guy a craftsman or what? I was going to take a picture of the other wing but the reflection was too bright and I was afraid it might damage the camera! |
Coy inspecting the finished job. |
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Tuesday, January
13
3 hrs
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| Cleaning up the control surfaces and getting ready to paint. We cleaned the ailerons, rudders and trailing edges using MEK, 400 sandpaper and a lot of elbow grease. We repaired a few dings and rashes on the control surfaces.. (Thanks to Dale for the help and the pics today.) |  |
Coy using a small hammer and what looks like
the bottom of a flatiron to take out a ding in a trailing edge.
I've never seen anyone make metal act like putty before. Fantastic!
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Thursday, January 15
16 hrs
Actually, counting all three of us -- me, Coy and Dale -- we spent close to 26 hours of work. Coy started at 10:30, I got there at 12:30 and Dale came after work at 4:00. We headed for home after 9:00 and we'll all sleep pretty good tonight. Can't say "thanks" enough for the help, guys. Coy laid out the pattern for the wings almost freehand, we taped and papered for hours, scuffed and cleaned the surface to be painted, and finally sprayed a little red paint on them. We waited for an eternity for the paint to tack and then took off the paper and the tape. Not only was Dale and I happy with the result, Coy thought the job was good. I don't think paint jobs get any better than that.
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Top left: taping the design Top Center: Checking the tape and paper Top right: spraying the first mist coat. Left: 2nd and third coats Right: Pulling the paper and tape Bottom right/center: finding and cleaning the oversprays Bottom right: the finished product
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Friday, January 16
6 hrs
Coy had the horizontal stabilizer design taped and ready for paper and we finished the paper, scuffed, cleaned and tacked the surfaces to be painted. Painted both stabs, waited the usual eternity, removed the paper and declared the job 'great'!
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Also spend 2 hours after I went home on removing the velcro from the fuselage, removing the rear seat assembly, removing the front canopy (again) cleaning the fuselage with MEK and then washing it down afterwards. Thought I had it about ready to paint.
Saturday, January 17
10 hrs
Took the fuselage to Coy's shop. We cleaned, stripped, melted, fixed,
repaired, and generally rebuilt the fuselage surface. (Without the body
shop tools --and the experience-- Coy has available, I would imagine the work we
did would take a couple of weeks. Or would it get done at all?)
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Top: Repairing and filling the seam, and a few bad spots
on the front of the fuselage |
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| Finally! The first picture of the N209XP off the ground. (We're with you on a heading of 280 at 18 inches.) | ||
Monday, January 19
6 hrs
Tuesday, January 20
3 hrs
Monday, we continued working on the fuselage. We also used acid etch on the aluminum control surfaces, the ailerons, trailing edges and the rudders. Nasty job. Coy sprayed a prime coat on the areas where we sanded off the pin striping and the XP logos. No pics.
Tuesday Coy had already taped and papered the fuselage before I got there. We mixed the primer for the aluminum (the mix has to cook for 30 minutes), put the fuselage in the paint booth and strung the ailerons, rudders and trailing edges in the open booth. I cleaned (C-2210) and tacked the fuselage, and while Coy put the primer on it, I cleaned and tacked the aluminum. They were primed with an epoxy mix (white) and the fuselage was primed with a gray primer. Check out the smooth nose cone. Before Coy worked his magic, it had a joining seam right down the center. Taking tomorrow off to pick up more Aerothane reducer at Aircraft Spruce in Griffin. Looks like we're going to be a little short and don't want to take a chance on running out in the middle of finish painting. Hopefully, we will put the white finish paint on the fuselage and the aluminum Thursday, and finish up with the red trim on Saturday after the EAA meeting.
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Thursday, January 22
6 hrs
Dale, Coy and I pulled the tape and paper from the fuselage, sanded the primer coat, cleaned, tacked and re-taped/papered and sprayed the three coats of Insignia White. Also sanded the trailing edges, ailerons and rudders. Will paint those tomorrow.
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Prepping the fuselage and sanding the ailerons, trailing edges and the rudders |
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Coats 1, 2 and 3 of Insignia White Aerothane - check the shine! |
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Friday, January
23
4 hours
Met Coy at his shop and put the three coats of Insignia White on the aluminum pieces (trailing edges, rudders, and ailerons). Not much to tape except the hinges, so it was almost like a day off. We fastened the pieces to our wooden frame we used for the stabilizers. Worked great.
Saturday,
January 24
16 hours
Dale, Coy and I began working on the paint design right after the EAA38 meeting. After a bit of trial and error, we hit on the right combination that looks just like what I wanted on the fuselage. Coy uses a small (1/4 inch or so) blue tape that's easily removed to make the design. Then masking tape is applied close to the edge of that tape, and finally paper and tape to cover the parts and areas that are not supposed to get any of the Tennessee Red. After the paper and tape, We scuffed the areas to be painted, and had to resand (using #600) the bottom to get a good smooth finish. We cleaned the areas (blowing the dust first, cleaning with C-2210 and finally tacking ), and watched Coy spray the three coats of the red Areothane. After the final coat was applied, we have to wait about an hour for the paint to dry enough to remove the paper and tape. Had a few (very few) oversprays under the paper. With the master painter overlooking our work, Dale and I are getting to be pretty thorough in our taping work Very, very happy with the results. Thanks, Dale, for the pics of today and Thursday (and others)
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| We utilized the times we were waiting on the paint to tack and dry to apply the pinstripe to one wing and one of the horizontal stabilizers. Rather, we watched Coy do the wing in fifteen minutes, and then I spent what seemed like two hours to do the stab while Coy made sure I was doing it the right way (thank goodness).. | ||
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| After the paper and tape was removed, it turned out to be a pretty fair country job. (How is that for understatement?) |  |
All we have left to do on the paint job is to finish the pinstriping, put a little red paint on the pants and we'll start a new page. Can't wait to see it all together! |
Sunday,
January 25
.5 hr
Almost a day off! Put the pinstriping on the other stabilizer The second one was a whole lot easier than the first!
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Wednesday, January 28
3 hrs
Coy and I finished the pinstriping on the wings and fuselage. Coy put a 'possible' design on the wheel pants. Took the seat pads, back pads, headrests and the rear seat plate to the upholstery shop (Fred Collins Upholstery) in Perry. Joyce helped me pick out the fabric color. Think it's going to look good.
Thursday, January 29
2 hr
Attached the outboard trailing edges to the wings. Used Dale's racing trailer and moved the fuselage to Air Park. If the weather holds, we'll try to move the wings, canard and tailfeathers Saturday.
Friday, January 30
2 hr
Riveted the rudders on the vertical stabilizers. Compressor died, so I had to use the hand riveter to install the rudders. (Ouch) Built the stands to carry the wings on the trailer.