The Devil is in the Details

Over the past week poor Joseph was polishing and touching up the paint on the winglets and the cockpit. I told him to stay home this weekend and to not worry about the glider.

When I came in on Saturday, the glider was waiting for me in the booth, ready for me to start trimming out the details.

The first thing I noticed was the painted registration and tail letters were blended smoothly into the white paint.

My first task was to add the Libelle logo to the tail, which I had vinyl transfers made at Fastsigns.

The transfers were better than the decals I bought. They too looked like they were painted on.

My next tasks was to rivet the serial number plate back on, and grind down the screw ends in the hat shelf cover.

A happy milestone since the plate was removed four years ago!

I then added the speaker, and GRP straps to the inside to secure the speaker wires.

I adjusted the release cable under Roberts guidance, secured the turnbuckle with safetly wire, swedged the T-handles for the Release and Pedal adjustment.

I also spent most of the day cleaning the bearings and removing the years of dust and grime that have been collecting on them.

The water ballast dump system controls were added ....

... and tested.

As I was walking out of the booth this evening, this is what I see!

Sunday, I will be finishing getting the antenna reconnected and tested, and continue the clean out of dust and grime build up.

 

Getting Closer and Closer!!!!

Last week, Joseph and I spent nine days working to finish painting the glider and put a dent in polishing it out!.
 
Saturday both wings were brought back into the shop.

They were cleaned and then sanded down with 400 grit to get them prepped for painting.

 
Saturday and Sunday we painted the wings.

 

Monday it was snowing and too cold to paint, so we started polishing out the top of the right wing, and prepped the area of the bottom to get it ready to paint the competition letters. Also, the horizontal, rudder, and ailerons were painted

We also brought in the fuselage, and prep sanded the primer for painting on Tuesday

Tuesday morning, the fuselage was moved into the booth, and was painted.

We had another set back when I found out that the blue accents were not in compliance with the type certification of the Libelle, and the blue paint that was on one of the winglets had to be removed. We had to repaint the rudder due to some moisture contamination in a couple of areas.

Wednesday, yet another set back, Robert wanted us to move the wings back into the trailer to make room for a cleanup and repair on another glider.

We were able to bring in the right wing to get the bottom prepped for the competition letters. Later in the day, we moved the fuselage back into the booth and we masked the registration numbers and the competition letters.

By late afternoon, the blue paint was applied.

Thursday and Friday were pretty much the same as Wednesday. There were a couple of setbacks with painting and cleanup. The wing spar stubs needed to be painted, and the horizontal need another coat.

Saturday and Sunday, we did nothing but remove the masks and fine sanded the wings and fuselage for the final polishing

Joseph did the final polishing on the wings! They are like mirrors!

Although it was no milestone event, the wingtip wheels were finished and painted too!













All that was left after nine days of work is the fuselage, horizontal and rudder need to be polished.

If all goes well, the glider will be ready for me to finish the interal linkage inspection with Robert and perform the final trim out of the cockpit this next weekend. Then assembly, W&M,W&B, and then out to test fly!