Arlington was a blast this year. I got to spend a lot of time with friends and airplanes and it doesn't get much better than that. Some highlights for this year include Jeff getting an award for workmanship on his airplane. That was an awesome award that was well deserved! If you ever get a chance to look closely at his work on that airplane you will see why he won that award. The second highlight was a first for me. I got a chance to ride along with the Blackjacks while they did a 12 ship formation show on Saturday. I took a video of the ride and posted it on YouTube.
 |
| Jeff getting his award! |
With the airplane today was a big day. I have been prepping and fretting about gluing my canopy onto the frame. Well today was the day. It is glued and if there were any mistakes they are permanent now.
I'm not sure I will get another post in before I leave next Wednesday. I have to spend a couple of days in Milwaukee at Brookdale and then its off to Oshkosh! So, this is about it for the month of July. Oh wait one more thing, I got my P-Mags on order and the GRT Mini was shipped. I will have lots to do when I get back!
 |
| One item on the list was the painting of the rollbar and slider frame. |
 |
| Can you see an airplane in this picture? Another picture of the slider and roll-bar paint |
 |
| So, I decided that access to the forward bay of the fuselage was not sufficient. I decided to follow a few other builders and put some access panels in. This is the first cut of the top skin. |
 |
| Here you can see the spacer and the back-plate on the skin. |
 |
| I dont remember if I mentioned this yet but I decided to install my GPS antenna's under the access panels instead of under the cowl where many other builders place theirs. This is the fiberglass cover that will fit in the access port. I think I still need to add a layer of cloth...or two maybe. |
 |
| Ok here we go. This is the canopy taped off, sanded for adhesion, and ready for cleanup. |
 |
| Here the frame is sanded and ready for cleaning. |
 |
| I used the Sikaflex activator, waited about 15 minutes, and then painted the primer on both surfaces. This is what the canopy looks like primed. |
 |
| The glue has been applied and clamps set for at least 24 hours. I will let it set for longer than that probably. |
 |
| Another view a little closer up. You can see the Sikaflex if you look closely. Its the black goo. |
 |
| And finally I got a chance to install the final set of wires. The large brown and white bundles are engine monitoring wires. Now that these are in I am very close to being able to rivet the final piece of skin on!!! |
