Hey Guys,

Primer phase has commenced!  Paint just around the corner!

Yes, with all the component priming going on, I’m still working the final fit, finish and integration of the aft nose/avionics cover with the canopy front skirt and forward nose as the canopy final fit & finish on the longerons is about 98% complete… I expect the nose cover to be ready for final primer and paint within the next 2-3 days, and the canopy a day or two after that. 

Finally, I’ll note that my bird is officially registered as N916WP and I am working with my DAR to complete task items in preparation for my upcoming Airworthiness inspection.  Seriously pressing forward! 

This post covers the last couple days.  And while much better, my man cold continues to linger slightly.

That being said, the combat painting continues!

I started off by popping the new-edged aft nose cover off the taped-up canard.  Here you can see the rough, cured flocro’d edges of the cover that meet up with the canard top.

I then dove in and painted the canard with the Nason white paint that I have on hand.  It’s a really good quality paint, I’m just not a good quality painter! ha.

The bottom of the canard (of course) came out better than the top, with significantly less orange peel across the board.  The right side canard isn’t too bad, but the left top is by far the worst regarding orange peel (yes, I choose to dwell on the negatives!).

One last shot at the canard in white paint.  Not perfect, but as far as combat painting, this dog will hunt!

I also knocked out both sides of the elevators and the ailerons in white paint, one side per day.

And of course we have the “test subjects,” which I actually shot first with white paint.  Not bad, but also replete with a good bit of the dreaded orange peel here and there.

At the end of day 2 I was ready to finally get the aft nose/avionics cover slathered up in gray primer… a big milestone, if not at least in my mind.

I also got the top cowling in gray primer as well.  I had epoxy wiped the exposed micro to ensure no (extra) pin holes appeared.  That seemed to do the trick as far as the micro’d areas, but the carbon fiber itself doesn’t seal perfectly when epoxy wiped so I have a good number of pin holes to fill with the Icing.

I also hit the left side strake hatch door with gray primer to begin its journey of someday getting painted as well.

I had some extra gray paint in the gun so I quickly finished sanding down and cleaning up the bottom cowling, then hit it with a solid coat of gray epoxy primer.

I’ll note that I’ll spend a day or two cleaning up all the above gray epoxy primered components, but I’ve decided that for time’s sake I’m going to press forward towards first flight with the cowlings in gray primer and the wings, fuselage and strakes in white primer.  Painting is taking too much time for the quality I’m getting not having a paint booth… I need to figure that one out.

So I guess when I say “combat painting” from here on out, I actually mean “combat priming!” . . .  still, pressing forward.

Today I finally got around to sanding the white epoxy primer on the canard, the elevators and the ailerons.

I then spent a good hour fine-tuning the nose/sidewall pockets to accept the ever so slightly thicker canard —due to the added primer (I guess).  This effort included getting it so that both top (mod) and bottom (per plans) canard bolts were mounted… all together.

I then mounted the aft nose/avionics cover, traced the cover’s canard openings with a pencil on the canard, and then covered those lines with blue painters tape.  I then closed the cover again, repeated the marking process on the blue tape, only this time with a Sharpie.  I then added clear packing tape over the blue tape and then wetted out some strips of peel ply on the nose cover-to-canard seam lines.

I then whipped up some flocro and slathered up the edges of the canard “openings” on the aft nose/avionics cover.

I then closed the cover, and cleaned up the flocro that filled the seam betwixt nose cover and canard top.  I left this to cure overnight.

And of course I checked again to see how my canard top profile is doing, in a few spots along each side… still looking great!

Here we have the canard completely mounted with the aft nose cover completely installed as I knock out the final fit and finish… a shot of each side of the canard.

And a lone shot of the right side of the canard and nose cover (pre-seam fill)….

As well as from the left side.

It was getting late but I installed the upper cowling to add it to the assessment of the aft canopy skirt to Turtledeck seam alignment (since I just did the final tweaking of canopy frame to left longeron).  The top cowling will be in primer soon, so I wanted to do this assessment in case any aggressive sanding needed to be done and not mess up any primer on the cowling.

Still MUCH to do with finishing and priming, but I suspect I’ll actually start shooting PAINT here soon.  Pressing forward!

This post covers the last couple of days… and yes, my man cold is persisting.  Thus, I’m still “pacing” myself and taking more breaks than I normally do during a work day.

I started off by shooting white epoxy primer on the complete outboard side of the right winglet and only the top portion (below the inverted wing) of the inboard side of the right winglet.

I may have shot another coat on the winglet, but it turned out that I only had enough in the cup for a single coat on all my targets, with just a bit extra to hit some of the light areas (i.e. not covered by gray primer) showing through.

That being said, I shot the inboard side of the right rudder with a single coat of white epoxy primer.

I’ll note that these light coats are very acceptable, as after the white epoxy primer is applied I’ll only be using 320 & 400 grit sandpaper to minimize scratches in the primer so they won’t show up in the final paint.

Plus there’s always the concern about weight: the bare minimum coverage here being the goal.

Finally, I shot the nose hatch door with 1 coat of white epoxy primer.  I’ll make another note that on this guy in that I would have been perfectly fine with going straight to the blue topcoat paint over the gray epoxy primer, except that I filled a number of divots with the Icing putty, which should have a sealer coat over it prior to topcoat.  Thus the white epoxy primer.

Back on the fuselage —which I’m trying to finish up to get it to primer/paint— I finally got the added, added, added micro (there was even another slight micro fill required from what I last reported) contour sanded and epoxy wiped… 4 coats of West epoxy.

Now, there is one more task before I get to primer on this guy.  I have to install the canard and do the final bottom edge fill at the openings of the cover to minimize the gaps (and thus unwanted air blowing into the cockpit) between cover and canard top profile.  That is a priority task and should be in one of the next few that I do.

After having just noted a priority task above, a somewhat sideline task that I had not thought much of at all during this build is the rudder pocket drain hole. . . until I started wet sanding the left wing.  I kept finding the rudder pocket full of water and the only way to remove the water was to sop it up with a rag or paper towel.  It made me realize how much water could be in that pocket if the bird happened to be out in the rain overnight (say, at a fly-in).

Here’s the High Speed Rudder plan’s depiction of the rudder pocket drain hole:

I didn’t do the 1/4″ drain hole, but rather a 3/16″ hole.  I then went rogue even further by using a 1″ piece of 3/16″ Nyla-flo (1/8″ ID) micro’d into place.  I used the Nyla-flow since with the winglet intersection fairing fillet it’s about a 3/4″ thickness between inside rudder pocket to exterior skin.  I figure water will find its way out even with only a 1/8″ diameter exit.

Here we have the inside of the left rudder pocket with the Nyla-flo just peeking behind the right most visible rudder cable before it goes into the wing end.  Of course this was just for this pic, afterward I pulled the Nyla-flo outward so that the top edge was just even with the rudder pocket floor.

I then did the same thing on the inverted right wing.  Here is the initial small diameter drill bit sticking out of the wing-to-winglet corner intersection in the fairing’s filet.

And here is the Nyla-flo peaking out.  I had a pic of the inside as well, but it turned out very blurry, so no joy on that.  Also, I will NOT be leaving any Nyla-flo exiting the surface, but will trim off the excess once the micro cures.

I also finally got the left strake hatch door Hartwell button latch installed in place with cherry pop rivets.  After the many machinations of getting the top contour and height of the door dialed in, it took a good 20 minutes of sanding the button holes to get the latch to fit right and level with the door.  It’s still not 100% perfect, but definitely good enough to not be egregious and still function completely as designed.

Ok.  A lot more sanding, filling, priming, painting to do… but slowly getting there!

I’ve been dealing with a man cold that reared its ugly head yesterday, so I’m moving a bit slower than usual…

That being said, I was able to get the top of the left wing and the left winglet in white epoxy primer.

It seems with the time it takes to finally get whatever larger component that I’m shooting prepped and cleaned, then the primer mixed up with its requisite 30 minute induction period… it’s close to dark when I start shooting, and then dark by mid-shoot.

Combine this with the issues I’ve been having with my goggles steaming up (it’s still very hot here) and sometimes it’s very hard to see exactly my paint laydown pattern.  Thus, there are a few runs here and there (I plan to resolve this before final color coat is shot).

Along with the top left wing and winglet, I also shot the top of the ailerons with white epoxy primer.

As well as shooting the right strake storage hatch door and the top cowling oil check door with white epoxy primer.

Then, using pencil markings as a “poor man’s” guide coat, I sanded down the front and aft micro fills on the aft nose/avionics cover (pic 1).  I was ready to epoxy wipe the new micro on the nose cover after sanding, but alas, I needed another round of micro on both the aft side and nose side of the cover (pic 2).

I’ve been noticing more pin holes than I expected, especially in areas of “raw” micro that I didn’t subsequently epoxy wipe… a few of these have slipped through where I’ve broken through the epoxy wiped surface down to raw micro.  I think it might also be by not allowing the first coat of primer to flash enough before adding the next coat, so the off-gassing creates a tiny air bubble that pops and leaves a small pin hole.

I’ve added 5 minutes to my flash time in between coats (20 minutes, from 15) but still have a number of pin holes and small divots to fill from before.  The worst I’ve had so far on any component was the underside surface of the aft wheel pants, which had dozens of pin holes…. but 15 seconds of slathering on finishing putty eliminates those quite easily.

Speaking of finishing putty, here is the stuff that Mike Toomey recommended to me, which is WAY cheaper than my Evercoat Metal Glaze (seems to be the same stuff) that I had before (a big bottle that dried up on me).

Pressing forward!

Today was an extension of yesterday, where I finished off painting the other sides (tops) of the elevators and started on the right rudder after sanding it.

I also got the bottom of the ailerons shot with white epoxy primer, only about one coat to keep it as light as possible.

I also sanded and shot the left front wheel pant with the white epoxy primer.

Here we have the canard, which I plan to sand tomorrow, and the aileron bottoms shot in white epoxy primer.

A parting, collective shot of the elevators and rudders in white epoxy primer.

I then turned to a task that I’ve been trying to squeeze in the last few days: microing up the aft edge (near the glare shield) and the forward edge of the aft nose/avionics cover.

Tomorrow I’ll get these sanded and dialed in to match the canard skirt on the aft side and the nose on the front side, then epoxy wipe the freshly sanded micro.

Here we have some shots that simply show the left wing top and winglet after I sanded the white high build 2K primer in prep for the wing top getting shot with epoxy primer.

And the same for sanding the inverted right wing’s high build 2K primer, which was a night op with a shop light positioned so I could see.

Here’s the sanded right winglet.

Now the underside of the right wing is ready for 2K SEALANT (not epoxy primer) —due to the previous boat paint, while the winglet will get a coat or two of the white epoxy primer.

Yep, another long day… slowly getting there!

Today was a big 2 part day in that I started out early in the day shooting a lot of components with the high build white 2K primer.  This helped fill any minor scratches, divots and grooves.

I started on the canard leading edges and the inboard ‘root’ areas on the top.

I also hit a good number of areas on the topside of the ailerons, again with the high build white 2K primer.

Here we have the left winglet and outer wing areas shot with the high build white 2K primer.

And the inboard side of the left wing as well.

One last shot of the left wing and winglet areas shot with high build white 2K primer.

I did the same thing on the inverted right wing as well, hitting the winglet and the trailing areas with high build white 2K primer.

And the right wing leading edge in high build white 2K primer.

Here’s an overall shot of the bottom right wing and the inboard winglet areas shot with high build white 2K primer.

Since the high build white 2K primer cures in 6 hours, I sanded those areas on the canard and then shot it with white epoxy primer, the final coat before it gets the white topcoat.

I did the same on the BOTTOMS of the elevators, shooting them with white epoxy primer… a couple light coats.

The left rudder, both sides, got shot with white epoxy primer.

As did the aft wheel pants and the forward right wheel pant, which all came out pretty darn good.

It was a very long day, so I called it a night.

Still pressing forward with primer, and soon, paint!

I got a late start today but luckily Guy came over to help me with the copious amounts of sanding I had to do on both wings.

Guy arrived at 5:30 pm and I was about 20 minutes away from finishing up sanding the bottom of the epoxy primered right wing, which I had been working on for over 3 hours.

Thankfully, the top of the left wing went much faster with Guy’s help.  Here it is about an hour after he left, somewhere a little after 8 pm.  It’s still wet from the wet sanding, and you can see the amount of epoxy primer that was removed to really get the surface nice, smooth and level.

And a shot focusing on the reflection of the winglet.

Here is the left wing top, inboard winglet (pic 1) and outboard winglet (pic 2) after it was all dry and put back in the shop for the night.

Here we have the wet sanded right wing bottom side.  The main amount of time I spent before Guy showed up was on the winglet and the junction of that to the main wing.  The actual main wing bottom areas were significantly much easier to sand.  Thankfully the left side winglet will be finished when I shoot and sand the primer on the bottom of the left wing.

I’ll reiterate that the white on the bottom of the wing is the boat primer that I sanded down about as much as I could without breaking into the micro surface.  This and the gray epoxy primer will get a full white seal coat before the final white paint is shot.

As with the left winglet, I worked the right side over with the sanding block to really get the surface smooth and even.  That being said, there are a few minor pinholes, divots and low spots that will need to be filled (on just about every part!).

Here we have the high build 2K primer shot rudders and elevator tops sanded and ready for white epoxy primer… which is the final primer coat (think seal coat) before the final color coat is shot.  Again, as with the wings, still dealing with an occasional minor pinhole and/or divot to eliminate before the next round of primer/paint can proceed.

It was another late night… clearly a ton more to do tomorrow, the next day, etc. to get this bird in the air!

Today was all about getting a good bit of primer laid down on both wings.  Thankfully I was able to meet my goal in doing that.

In the continuation of my “combat painting” to get this bird flying, I went ahead and put plastic under the inverted right wing and then prepped it for epoxy primer.  Besides being inverted, the difference between this primer shoot and the left wing is that I left the rudder installed in the winglet.

Here we have the BOTTOM of the right wing, the inboard and outboard winglet with rudder all in primer.  If you’re looking at the middle and inboard wing areas and thinking that I’m a horrible with a paint gun, the white peaking out is the remaining boat paint primer… which will get a sealer to transition to top coat vs the epoxy primer shot here.

Here’s a better shot of the outboard winglet and rudder after 2 coats of epoxy primer.

Along with the right wing underside, I also shot the nose hatch door, the top cowling’s oil check door, and the right strake hatch door with epoxy primer as well.

Here’s a better shot of the nose hatch door.  While it looks great in the pic, there are a view visible imperfections (mainly along the edges) that will need addressed before the top coat can be applied.

I’m jumping ahead many hours —after I stowed the right wing in the shop for the evening— to grab a shot of the primed right inboard winglet and rudder.

And a shot of the right wing’s leading edge after primer.

Here we have the bottom the right wing in full view with the canard topside after I sanded away most of the high build 2K primer.  Also shown is the outboard left rudder also with its 2K primer sanded (pic 1).

I then flipped both the canard and the rudder to show the other sides with the 2K primer sanded to shape (pic 2).  I can say that both canard and rudder are VERY close to final contour for final primer and paint coats (while the wing will need a bit of work!).

Later in the afternoon (early evening by the time I got started) I finally got the upright left wing prepped to receive a couple coats of epoxy primer (pic 1).  And here is the result of that round of paint gun slinging (pic 2)… and although I could spot a number of areas that will need to be tweaked, overall I’m VERY happy with how the left wing and winglet first coat of epoxy primer came out.

Here is a shot of the outboard left winglet with 2 coats of epoxy primer.  There are some runs, since I was trying to balance lighting and viewing angles vs keeping the bugs off of it (it is the initial coat of primer so no major issues on any of that).

And a wider angle view of the left wing top surfaces and winglet in epoxy primer.

And a parting shot of the left wing top side and winglet in epoxy primer.  This pic has a good view of both the leading edge and the wingtip-to-winglet leading edge interface.

Tomorrow will be more sanding and hopefully more primer shooting as I attempt to get this bird painted ASAP.

Moving onward!

Jess and I are back from our whirlwind west coast trip, arriving back home around midnight last night.

In my push to get this bird painted, I’m employing some tricks from my buddy Nate Mullins, who I’m sure a lot of you have seen his awesome Long-EZ that he finished 10 YEARS ago! (wow, time flies!).

Anyway, for filling major divots, scratches, blemishes and general assistance in leveling out the surfaces being painted, Nate used a cheaper but highly rated high build 2K urethane primer from TP Tools [to be clear, this stuff is ALL he used to “paint” his bird as he flew it in just primer].  After our conversation a few years ago, I found it on sale and nabbed a couple of gallons of it.  Here it is with my 1.7 tip gun that I’ll be shooting it with.

Now, I know the gurus on high and the purists would/will excoriate me once they find out I’m mixing paint systems… and that I’m not going with the the only “authorized and acceptable” paint system mix: Awlgrip epoxy primer with Emron paint.  But I’ve talked to a number of very knowledgeable paint ‘gurus’ and they have blessed my “plan.”

I’ll start off by noting that most of this 2K epoxy will be sanded away and only the bit remaining that is filling in the blemishes will be left on the parts.  Any further blemishes will be filled with a compound prior to the final coat before paint, which will be a white epoxy primer coat.

Here we have the low spots and blemishes on the top left of the canard shot with 2-3 coats of high build 2K primer.

And here is the right side of the canard, again with the low spots and blemishes shot with 2K primer.  I also did the underside of the canard as well, but alas, no pics this go around.

Here we have the OUTBOARD of the left elevator and the tops & leading edges of the elevators shot with the high build 2K primer.  Again, most of this stuff will get sanded off.

But out of curiosity, I checked both the left and right elevators’ top contour… looking pretty darn good.

Here have the tops of the ailerons prepped for the high build 2K primer (pic 1).  See all those light areas?  Those are the high spots, so when I sand these again the surfaces will be much more level.  I then shot the TOPS of the ailerons with the 2K primer (pic 2).

I’ll note that the bottoms of the elevators and ailerons are not getting the 2K primer and are all ready for the final seal coat with white epoxy primer before final paint (1 coat for bottom surfaces).

Here we have the INBOARD of the left rudder hit in just a few areas (top & TE mainly) with 2K primer.

I also spent almost half an hour sanding the bottom cowling, and plan on hitting that with the 2K primer tomorrow.

Pressing forward!