aviator79's build

[aviator79]

She's got leeeggs.

[Clark in AZ]

Very cool! Looks really nice! That's quite a milestone.


Clark

[aviator79]

Have you ever built anything on this scale before?

I have not built anytyhing on this scale. I rebuilt a '78 Triumph Bonneville from the crank up, but that's a very different thing than fabric covering an airplane.

Keeping clean tape lines was a challenge. I thought I laid the orange on too thick, causing some bleeding past the tape edge. I touched up what bled, and sprayed the blue with less fluid flow. It did not bleed past the tape line, but it didn't flow and fill as well, so it's a little more rough-textured. When I did the gray, I tried to go somewhere in between, and I got some bleeding past my tape lines again in a few places. I used high-quality 3M green tape for automotive painting, and made sure the edges where smoothed and well-adhered. It was a little warm (~85 deg F), so that might be why I couldn't spray it light enough and still get a smooth texture. The manual says you should be able to spray up to 95 deg F though, so maybe there is some other secret. I have a light orange peel texture on all the colors, but it's not noticeable unless you really look into the glare. From 10' it looks great. I'm pretty happy with it. If you want any other details about the covering and painting process, let me know. All of the wisdom I have is contained in the Poly Fiber manual though.

[Ronin]

It's called "fine line" painters tape. Feels more like electrical tape than regular masking tape. also lightly scotch-brite pad right up to the tape line before painting and also you can make sure the tape edge is tight with a rubber or plastic squeegee.

[Frontier Fox]

I really like your color choices! Can’t wait to see the tail feathers and wings.

Joe G

[aviator79]

So I'm installing the engine mount. I managed to get all 5 points aligned pretty easily. However, the AN5-17A bolt that the manual calls out for the bottom attach point is too long. There is not enough thread to pull the mount up tight. Am I missing something? It's hard to measure the bushing length, but it looks like 1.125. I might have some 5/16 washers I could stack to take up the play. Anyone else run into this?

[efwd]

Hell yes I ran into that. I had a miserable time getting all my bolts to go in. Ultimately I had to loosen all bolts. If Im not mistaken I had to get that particular bolt in first before I was able to work on the rest. The shoulder of that bolt would not pass the firewall as it would hang up. That particular area is so reinforced and inflexible. Put the bottom in and just run it down enough so that when your workin on the others your not putting stress on the threads of that bolt. Once that bolt was secure, I had to use ratchet straps to flex the other points an eighth inch or so. I was working alone so if you have help they may be able to strong arm the mount.

[aviator79]

Eddie, I remember you had trouble getting them aligned. Mine actually aligned pretty easily, but the bottom bolt is at least 1/8 in. too long. I run out of threads before the engine mount and firewall come tight.

[efwd]

Oh, I understand now. I may have had a short or long bolt myself. I have spare bolts of various lengths for my engine mount. I bought them in different lengths because I believe I was having similar issues.

[David47]

Brian, if you don’t buy a shorter bolt, you could put one washer betweeen the firewall and engine mount and then add washers on the aft side of the firewall to get the correct thread engagement without bottoming out.