Chapter 7 - Step 5 - Glassing the Sides

Sept 5, 2005
The big order from Wick's Aircraft showed up on Friday as they told me it would. I immediately set everything asside except the cloth that I needed and deferd the inventory till after all of this is done.

Well I'm finally to it. This last step in this chapter. I didn't take alot of pics here becasue it was so similar to the bottom and there are no good interim step that I thought anyone would like to see. I did this side starting Saturday and let it cure for the remainder of the day. This layup takes about 3 hours with a bit of help. Again I was offered help by my wife mixing and setting cloth in place and again I accepted it. She's getting good at keeping me in materials and keeping me steadily working. The following morning I was up at 7:30am ready to get going so a cup of coffee later I looked at what I had to do and decided how to spend my time. First I pulled all the peel ply off the layup. EXCELLENT! I am getting spoiled by peel plying everything. I had one small bubble that is about 1 inch in diameter. I haven't decided what to do about it yet. It is technically small enough where I can leave it be and considering where it is I thing that is what I am going to do other than maybe squirt a bit of epoxy into it with a siringe.

After I got the peel ply off I decided it was too early to start anything really big yet so I worked on an unfinished section of chapter 8.

I flipped the plane onto the other side around 11 and started work in earnest. This side took about 3 1/2 hours because I didn't have the level of help that I did the last time. But I was quite happy when I was done. I peel-ply'd and did that whole saran wrap thing to hold everything down into the delicate spots as shown on the right below.

Monday dawned bright and early, again after partaking of morning coffee I retired to "the hangar" to work on the plane. I removed the peel-ply and began the task of trimming everything up and sanding the rough edges to silky smoothness. This didn't take too long.

Then came an event that I am sure that all builders dream of. I got to take my first flight in my cozy.... well... not quite a first flight. I did take the plane off the rotiserie and placed it gently on some foam blocks on the floor. I then stepped into the airframe and sat alone in the pilot's seat for a few minutes taking it all in. What a feeling....

After enjoyng a quiet minute alone, I called for my daugher to attend me and for the wife to adequately document the occasion by taking a couple pictures. I did enjoy making the steady sure vroooooooooooooooooom sounds of a well maintained and operating engine. Ahhhhhh.

Ok... Enough of that... Lot's left to do before this baby flies for real so let's get to work. Get out the hilighter.... Hilight those last 3 paragraphs. review the chapter to make sure there are no remaining items to do....

Put a fork in chapter 7... IT'S DONE!!!