Another 2-day blog entry here.

First off, here is the left winglet aft lower cover protective cap that I glassed with 2 plies of BID.  I still need to do the right side.

I taped cardboard underneath on both sides of the winglet to mimic the foam padding I’ll have on the inside of the cover.  I don’t really care if it falls off when hit, I just want it super light and the initial impact for both impactor and impactee to be as least injurious as possible, for both parties involved.

While Phil is doing a great job on my bird buffing out my combat paint job, he has been suffering from some major back issues, with definite surgery in his future.  Not surprisingly, between that and his assistant being gone way longer for the Thanksgiving break —delayed a week due to snowstorms— the buffing out of my painted components is at a crawl.  I was expecting to have all parts back mid-December and be turning and burning with installs to get this bird airborne shortly after.
That’s not happening.

The bright side of all this is that tasks I was going to kick off until after the bird was flying, I’m now “pre-loading” and getting them off the docket.

Today’s task is a perfect example: a cover for the CS spar center hole to keep the GIB upper seat pad from sinking into it.  I don’t know how other builders have their seat pads situated, but my GIB top seat core top edge ends right at the top of the CS spar.  The big access hole in the CS spar makes it so the seat pad top “falls into” the open hole and deforms the seat pad.

To fix this issue, I planned to cover both openings in the GIB seat bulkhead, both the bottom round one and the CS spar access hole.  The bottom one is complete, and many moons ago I glassed the lower edge, or catch, of this cover that wrapped around the transition lip at the bottom of the CS spar access hole opening… think inverted “U” shape: ∩ (or rounded “V” really).

Today I cut 2 plies of carbon fiber to add the actual hole filling part of the cover.  The layup was a bit tricky because it attaches to the AFT side (inside the CS spar) of the bottom transition lip catch.  I prepregged the 2 plies of carbon fiber, laid that up, THEN constructed and taped into place the foam board to fill the access hole.

Here we have the CS spar access hole cover 2-ply carbon fiber layup, peel plied and curing (pic 1).  And then later after cure (fast hardener) with the peel ply pulled (pic 2).

Here is the taped in place foam board used as the layup back wall support.  To tape the foam board in place on the inside I had a small oval cutout in the center to get my hand inside the CS spar.  I then taped the oval cutout into place along with the rest of the foam board.

A few hours later I pulled the 2-ply CF cover out and cleaned up the edges a bit.  Here we have both front (pic 1) and aft (pic 2) sides showing.

Since I was in a rush during the time I created this form mid-layup, I didn’t get any pics of it going in.  So here is an idea of the center access port (pic 1) I created to get inside and tape the perimeter of the foam board (which itself was cut at the same dimensions of the CS spar access hole except along the bottom).  I then cut out the foam board but left the perimeter tape for the final front side layup (pic 2).

Here we have the CS spar access hole cover trimmed and sanded in prep for the final layup:  A center core of Lantor Soric wetted out, with edges micro’d for a smooth transition, the small gap along the bottom catch and aft wall filled with dry micro, then a single ply of CF over the top of all that.

After laying up the final ply of carbon fiber and peel plying it, I then set the CS spar hole cover back into place and taped the perimeter to keep it in its final position as it cured.

As the cover layup cured, I sanded the epoxy wiped left rudder gust lock and hit it with 2 coats of primer.  I also want to label my assorted aircraft keys, so yesterday I Dremeled off the raised manufacturer’s mark on one side and micro’d the surface.  Today I sanded those down and epoxy wiped them for upcoming paint, labeling, and clear coating.  Finally, I taped up 2 of the left vortilons before touching up the black paint stripes on those.

A few hours later, after nearly fully cured (fast hardener again), I pulled the CS spar cover out of the bird and set it on this heated table (heat lamps below it keep it quite toasty).

A couple of hours later, I pulled the peel ply off the CS spar access hole cover, razor trimmed the excess carbon fiber and hit the edges quickly with a sanding block.

And voila! Here it is, ready for action.

My last official task of the evening was the final install of the canopy latch handle.  All these years I’ve been using the AN screw-head bolts that I love so much, but for the final install I switched to no-kidding AN3 bolts.  And since the threaded holes are different depths, I have at least 2 lengths of bolts in the mix.

And the requisite outside shot of the handle.  Looking good!

My generalized goal at this point, besides ensuring the left wing is ready to go to Phil’s shop for its paint tweaking, is to get the back seat area squared away before moving physically forward on electrical and component installs in the nose, panel and pilot area.

Pressing forward!