I started off today by taking the left elevator outside the shop to wet sand it with 150 grit. I am happy to report that it is now ready for primer and paint.

Then, having made my decision to swap out the aft 4 CAMLOCs on each wheel pant apron with 10-32 screws and higher strength CAMLOCs, I took a little bit of time to drill out the rivets to remove the 2000 series CAMLOC receptacles from the aft wheel pants.

I then removed the top cowling and epoxy wiped the inside surface with 2 coats of Hi-temp resin (HTR-212).

I then spent a good hour prepping, organizing and cleaning up the shop to allow me to put the bird in the grazing position for the first time —with the wings and engine installed.

I installed the battery in the nose, hooked it up, and then put the bird in the grazing position, which I captured in the video below.

I then grabbed a number of pics of the bird in the grazing position.

I’ll note here that the nose is sitting on its rubber bumper.

I set up a fan behind the canard blowing towards the nose and out of the shop.  I then loaded up a 40 grit disc on my orbital sander to do the initial sanding of the nose micro, knocking down the major high spots.

Here’s a couple more shots of the initial sanding on the nose micro.

I then used my 36-grit sanding board to block sand the nose micro a good bit more.

A wider angle shot of the bird in the grazing position with the nose micro sanded.

And a final shot of the sanded nose with the bird in the grazing position.

Again, I ordered some 1/16″ thick foam rubber seal for the nose hatch door, and once that arrives I can install it and then finish the final sanding of the nose and nose hatch perimeter to ensure that seam is even, level and tight.  Tomorrow I also plan on filling the numerous divots in the micro that I missed on my initial nose micro’ing effort.