Kit #7 arrived

[Utah-Jay]

Lower doors take a lot of time, that you is all

[Utah-Jay]

Drilled holes in the door frame, match drilled in the skins, drilled and set the top angle for the door. Cut the hole for the patroller window which was then trimmed and all edges smoothed. I rolled the skin to fit on the window. Window frames were glued together and the acrylic was set into the frame. Only the left window skin is cut, everything else on the right window is set and prepped for the window hole to be cut. C867D7F7-E7C2-45FC-AAF8-6F29D314FEEA.jpgDE2AD05F-D031-4E68-B7AD-772151D14BE5.jpg2A42EDB2-C2EB-4B2D-98D1-A34AB2DFDA6E.jpg2F427928-C5A5-4D25-87D7-EC3ADA0B3909.jpg7714DC9C-BF1B-494C-9F96-62FBBF6E45A4.jpgDEF4F0D1-AA3D-4432-AD12-67EAEBE0C27D.jpg6B923DE1-65A1-4B46-BA2E-A08CDE2F727F.jpg3A8D9EA6-5A6C-4689-B4CC-1D4DB65E64DA.jpgFC869B0B-4C93-4902-A033-943A2F618B1B.jpg

Merry Christmas to all!!!!

[Sir Newton]

Nice work on the doors. I can hardly wait until I am working on doors.

[PapaDave]

Very nice work!

[Utah-Jay]

Thanks PapaDave

[Utah-Jay]

Right patroller window cut and fitted
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Right and left top door skins were trimmed so doors can be fully shut and the skin on top of the front hinge is not interfering with the door movement
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Door latch holes are drilled in the door frame for both right and left doors
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[Utah-Jay]

10 hours on upper doors the past two days. GEEZ, who would have thought
F15C1F8E-0FAF-47E2-AE48-F3552D0DBC27.jpgCEC1F03F-A0BF-4C9B-81C0-CAA3946CE98F.jpgAAB8A1DE-0EBF-49F9-9E6C-B022D89C1256.jpg24EC3BD1-910D-41F7-A09B-741C46DBBD69.jpg89CEDB4D-AB4A-4297-9F85-F3AD18640E98.jpg10D5486D-B28C-41F9-9BD4-2B2EC3B4264D.jpgD4DA8685-D31E-48A8-994D-A01D66260372.jpgAF3C3BC0-AB0B-431B-996C-E156C569DE81.jpgE5EE03B1-0352-4D17-99AC-360F1C62B3DE.jpg2E5A2D4D-61C9-4CCB-B42E-936AD97D300B.jpg8D66310C-6DD6-4DEE-A0C5-31E2942FA23C.jpg

[Light&Sweet]

Great work, photos, and info. Lew

[Utah-Jay]

Mouse Trap doors installed
82EEF2F2-1CE6-4D4D-B1EC-F57A79D9C17A.jpgCB20B545-060E-4AE0-BEF9-4B79F607879D.jpgB0FB18D5-944F-40A8-ADD7-7EBF3DD865C1.jpgB2DED2CE-40DF-4E98-9ECF-99260503770D.jpg unfortunately I forgot to prime the 2024, so will pop out the rivets and take care of that this week

[Utah-Jay]

Today was a win in the plane building world

Firstly the before
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And the after thanks to TrueAirSpeed showing me his doors/windows the other night
A5D5724E-44D9-4DAD-AB9C-3CE4BB04A1CE.jpg9A1E4598-BE6A-4E1B-BE4A-D34D128D6AAE.jpg Glass in the lower doors will have to wait most likely until I get back from a two week work trip

As for cutting the acrylic, I put in a new sharp blade in the pneumatic jigsaw and it went a lot better than yesterday’s fiasco

[Utah-Jay]

Did the left lower door today. Cut and fit the window and trimmed the front skin for proper clearance over the boot cowl when fully opened

Edited to add: Yes I decided to put the full window in the lower doors

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[Utah-Jay]

Seems like I am redoing a lot os things that seemed ok, but as my skills improve my standards have risen.

Chugging right along though and will start covering tail feathers later this week or over the weekend

[Utah-Jay]

Final fit and rivet of my static ports/mounting plates
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Today was the the day to stop procrastinating and closeout the back of the cargo area. It was a 6 hour project as I did not have access to a brake/cutter long enough, so…. It was all done with metal shears. First I used cardboard along the top and bottom to fit the cutouts needed, then transferred these over to poster board and the fun began The poster board was in and out of the cargo area at least 15 times. Then I transferred the outline to the sheet metal. I purposely cut the sheet metal a bit oversized as it is always easy to trim and file, but you can’t put material back on. So after lots of marking, trimming, filing, and then more of each all the while putting the piece in and out 10+ times. In the end it is fit perfectly. It will eventually have a coating as will all the floor boards. How long did it take? 6 hours
762CEB04-A23D-46F8-93E7-BFB6EF09A0C4.jpgC31BD38A-8EF6-44C1-82A5-FA0682BFD8DF.jpgAC71EB9A-AF0D-4602-A61B-6A48D6A0F06D.jpgB8D2E2EC-E01C-4321-AB4A-ACB50774989D.jpg2E568F55-E8BF-4216-902A-C0D3A292CFF5.jpg073EDE7B-F7A9-4558-ABF1-1A0C9E0C50E3.jpg

[Utah-Jay]

Cargo closeout all done (kinda), extended baggage box attached via nutplates, extended baggage door attached. Too many hours to count on this, but it is done.
FB14D296-BEFE-48A6-A273-851027D94071.jpg7682F97E-A62E-450D-A392-328C7DF19F34.jpgF5A332D5-A9B5-4168-9FA7-8B35415503D4.jpgA793018B-DD8E-4E2B-BF99-0876C6687FC3.jpg

So why “kinda”? I decided on the drive home tonight to cut the cargo closeout in half (top to bottom) to be able to access the area behind the closeout for condition inspections etc. much easier. I will just cut it, and attach a 4” piece, so 2” on the top and 2” on the bottom halves and nutplate the two halves together.

Damn rabbit holes

[Utah-Jay]

Who would have thought it would take six and a half hours to make/fit/install two mounting plates. The stringers are not parallel so that added time. I used angle aluminum at the front and back of each shield to make them extremely stiff. I ran out of time, so the GPS plate/shield still needs to be riveted to the stringers.
D5CD7B81-2FE9-4F4B-86C1-772C2EB4BFDB.jpg8EFB94CB-23D1-4597-B437-772F01939DCC.jpgC2FE9CA8-D040-4AAA-B189-379387354793.jpg84F2C306-6056-4B90-8382-C35977AA48CA.jpg I am on the final stretch prior to jumping full blast into the covering phase.

[Sir Newton]

The time required to build a airplane is very difficult to estimate :-) enjoy your posts!

[Utah-Jay]

Engine arrived
AC9C86F4-6A0C-4F01-AD5D-3C00AD5287DF.jpg18B562A4-B14E-45AE-A087-EF251C2324EA.jpg