9,10,13 AUG 17: Flox door sills/gutters: 4.45 hours

Continued to flox the door gutter for the McMaster-Carr door seals.  This method worked much better than I expected.  Just fill up the seal with flox/epoxy and press onto the gutter.  Seal on the gutter curing:

Once cured, the edges were very nice and made a lip exactly the size needed to mount the McMaster-Carr seal:

The new lip creates a nice even fit for the seal:

16 AUG 17: Flox door sills/gutters, Pg. 44-2 step 2, Pg. 44-8 step 2: 4.75 hours

Finished floxing the door seals/gutters.  While the epoxy cured, I found some busy work that needed to be done.  First, I fluted the vertical flanges of the F-1009E/F/G/H wing root fairing supports:

Next, I riveted the F-1099D wing root fairing stiffeners to the F-1099A upper wing root fairings.  It’s been a LONG time since I used the C-frame!

One fairing complete:

17 AUG 17: Pg. 44-8 step 2, removed cabin top: 4.75 hours

Finished riveting the stiffeners onto the wing root fairing.  I then disassembled the plane – removed the engine mount and the cabin top.  1 step forward, 2 steps back ha, ha:

18, 21 AUG 17: Micro/sand cabin top: 5.75 hours

Began to fill the cabin pillars with micro.  This is quite a bit of work, but I really wanted to close out the pillars to have a more finished look of the cabin top.  Eventually I will flox the overhead console to the top and blend it into the top/pillars.  The rough flox waiting to hours of sanding:

Again, this will be quite a bit of work, but it already looks much nicer that stock.  I will sand the micro even with the door seal for a nice, finished look:

30 JUN 17: Pg 24-2 step 1 (L): 2.25 hours

I don’t have 220 running to the garage in the new house, so I’m unable to continue on the cabin top/doors because I need to use my air tools – die grinder to trim/sand, etc – so I decided to work on the wing tips.  First was to trim the flanges and fit the tips to the wings.  The left tip trimmed and fit:

1 JUL 17: Pg 24-2 step 1 (R) and hinges: 6.5 hours

Fit the second tip and began to match drill the tips to the wings. 

The alignment was pretty good on the first tip – in line with the aileron/flap.  I’ll have to trim the trailing edge, so it’s flush with the aileron trailing edge, but I’ll do that later down the road.

Unfortunately, while drilling the second tip, it shifted ever so slightly.  That slight shift became a very noticeable misalignment with the aileron trailing edge.  So, a little bit of flox to the rescue:

The wingtip with the cured flox waiting to be drilled again:

After some deliberation, I decided to use the hinge method to install the tips.  It’s a bit of extra work, but I believe it is worth it to have the tips removable, but still have a very nice, finished appearance.  I never cared for the look of all the screws Vans uses for the wing tips.  Drilling the wingtips for the additional rivet holes:

One hinge piece drilled:

2 JUL 17: Hinges (L&R): 6.5 hours

Continuing with the hinges in the wingtips.  Drilling the hinges into the tip:

One tip clecoed in place:

9 JUL 17: Hinges: 3.5 hours

Match drilled hinges to both wing tips:

10 JUL 17: Countersunk L/R hinge holes in wingtips: 2 hours

Countersunk all the hinge holes in the wingtips – this took a while!

15 JUL 17: Pg 24-2 step 1 (R) and hinges: 4 hours

Riveted the hinges to the left wingtip:

Test fit the wingtip to the wing with the wing hinges clecoed in place.  Looks pretty nice!

16 JUL 17: Finished wingtip hinges: 4.75 hours

Finished up the wingtips.  I really like the finished look!

Both wingtips installed:

8 AUG 17: Sanded door sills for McMaster-Carr seals: 3 hours

Finally ran 220 from the house out to my garage, so I can begin using my 60-gallon compressor once again.  With the ability to use my die grinder, I finished sanding the door sills to a consistent ¼” gap between the sill and the door.  This will allow for consistent compression of the door seal bulb and, hopefully, result in no pressure points around the door allowing for easier door latching.  Now that the gap is consistent, the next step is to build up the lip for the seal.  I will use the method used by others, which is using some sacrificial door seal as a female mold.  Filled with flox, I will attach the seal to the lip, let it cure, and then remove the seal.  This should create a nice lip for the seal to mount to.  I then plan to build up the cabin top next to the seal, so the seal is essentially flush with the cabin top.  This will require quite a bit of work, but I believe the finished look will be well worth the effort – no pics.