Today was further proof that the lower cowl certainly is more challenging than the top. Even though I have determined some defining characteristics of the cowl and come up with a plan for the overall approach, it is still a challenge to blend these shapes and features together. It isn’t always intuitive how to blendContinue reading “More Challenging, but solvable”
Tag Archives: Defiant
Lower Cowl Challenges and Features
Update to “This Sucks, But not enough,”: From the last post, there was a lot of discussion on Facebook about my vacuum bagging failure, which is great. My main goal in blogging is to share my learnings with other interested people. There is a treasure trove of information in the Facebook comments, and once IContinue reading “Lower Cowl Challenges and Features”
This Sucks, but not enough
Yesterday was another one of those days in the Garaggio. The day started out amazing with a breakfast flight in the Legacy up to Sedona. A classmate from the first airline I worked for, Ryan, was in town on a layover, so . During the project tours, Ryan asked if I ever had bad daysContinue reading “This Sucks, but not enough”
Preparation
I was hoping to have Tool Cowl Serial Number 2 done by today. But as these project go, multiply time estimates by 2 and add a couple weeks, cost estimates by 3 and add one aviation unit. You’ll be close. The last few days I have been distracted with errands, maintenance on the Legacy (itContinue reading “Preparation”
Polish and Repair
A bit of my workshop time was taken up by errands today. So my to do list didn’t get as much attention as I would have liked. Never the less, I took a few more bites of the proverbial elephant. It started with trimming the flanges. The PVA came off with our mold, as expected.Continue reading “Polish and Repair”
We have a mold
Yesterday was a very good day in the workshop. It started a little slow as I was working on small tasks on the Legacy. Then Dave arrived, and we decided it was time to release the mold. I had some discussion with Dave about whether or not to build a rigid structure around the moldContinue reading “We have a mold”
Firsts
First time making a “real” mold… First time using chopped mat… 115 degrees, single handed…. what could possibly go wrong. Today I laid up the aft top cowl mold. It was a hot, long day. The temperature was over 100 by 0845 and 115 by the time I finished the layup. I started by doingContinue reading “Firsts”
Once Bitten
Twice Shy. I am going to skip right to the end of the story since the last few posts have been pretty long. Since my morning got consumed and I changed my mold plans, I wasn’t ready to spray my new PVA on the mold until almost 6 PM. This time I looked at theContinue reading “Once Bitten”
Prepping For Mold Making
Saturday and Sunday were all about prepping for mold making. As you saw in the last post, the surface was very good as evidenced by the reflections. In the video, you will see more reflections and even better ones from yesterday morning when I called it quits on contour sanding. The majority of the timeContinue reading “Prepping For Mold Making”
Wet Sanding, New Tools, and a Visitor
The last two days were filled with wet sanding the aft top tool cowl. Last we left off, I had sprayed black primer on the surface. This was to give me a guide coat. As you start sanding the primer on the highs sands away and the low spots remain black. This gives more ofContinue reading “Wet Sanding, New Tools, and a Visitor”
the Garaggio 