Building tips and hints

[DanB]

I'm going to give credit to Desert Fox 4 for this one as he told me about wrapping the door areas with a clear protective film a while back. After seeing a few wear marks beginning to develop (due to getting in and out), I finally started calling around to see if I could find this stuff http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...otection/Film/

It took a few calls to various installers, but I finally found one that was willing to sell me a few feet of the stuff. It went on easy and now I'm less concerned about marring the paint in this area.
Thanks for the idea Steve

[DesertFox4]

Dan, I'm pretty sure the film I used was not a 3M product therefore it has yellowed very slightly ( I don't care) from Sun and heat. You'll have no problem with the better 3M product over the same period of time.

Dan & I both have the model 4 wide body modification which makes this probably more important than for the stock model 4's but it's still a good solution to high wear areas where you want to maintain the paint scheme integrity.

[SkySteve]

Is this stuff tough enough and flexible enough to use as gap seal between the horizontal stabilizer and elevators?

[airlina]

It took a few calls to various installers, but I finally found one that was willing to sell me a few feet of the stuff[/quote]

If you are talking about the bottom square tubes of the door frames, i found that plastic drywall edging fit perfectly on my series 5. Trim it to fit and contact cement it in. 9 years later it still good as new. Bruce Lina N199CL

[DanB]

I found that plastic drywall edging fit perfectly on my series 5. Trim it to fit and contact cement it in. 9 years later it still good as new. Bruce Lina N199CL

Nice Bruce, It's amazing some of the things we come up with when a need arises.

[DanB]

Is this stuff tough enough and flexible enough to use as gap seal between the horizontal stabilizer and elevators?

Steve, I think this stuff would be quite possibly a good material for gap seal. It is very strong and certainly flexible enough. Adhesion is very good and it would stretch just a little. I have a little left over...might be an interesting test.

[jtpitkin06]

reducing bushings - all models

Sometimes I need a bushing to reduce the size of a hole. The seat belts on the Kitfox, for example, have 3/8 inch holes but use 1/4 inch bolts for mounting. It's not a precision bearing so there's no need to go to the lathe to make one.

In this case, I just cut a small piece off the end of some 3/8 aluminum tube left over from the stringers. Just a touch or two on the belt sander to flatten the cut ends and it fits perfectly

John Pitkin
Greenville, Texas

[jtpitkin06]

Cheap Metal Shears - all models

Need to make a straight cut in some thin sheet stock and the snips just don't do a good job?

It's easy if you have a metal shear but most home shops can't justify the expense for the occasional need. How about a $25 version that will do many of the smaller jobs.

Visit your local office supple and get a paper cutter. A paper cutter will slice through 032 Aluminum stock with surprising ease and it will still slice through paper after hundreds of cuts in aluminum.

You'll find lots of uses for it in the shop.

John Pitkin
Greenville, TX

[Esser]

Well I wish I would have though of this a lot sooner. But anywhere it says to remove the powder coat, don't waste your time sanding. It can take hours in the case of the rudder torque tubes. Instead go to your hardware store and buy permatex gasket remover. Tape off the area you want to remove the poweder coat, spray on the remover, and hit it with a wire brush. Finish up with a wipe of the rags. It takes seconds. For removing the powder coat from the inside of a tube I found using a plumbing brush for copper pipe to work well.

[War Eagle]

That's pretty cool. I could have used that help when I was building.

How did you come up with this idea?

I wonder if it will work on my smoker to remove backed on crud and not be hazardous to cooking food.

I suppose you could wash everything off with soap and hot water after you used the remover but not sure I want to be the guinea pig on that idea.

Anyway, that's for the idea.