On December 31, 2009 we finally bit the bullet and sent in our order form to Van's for the empennage kit (that would be the tail for those who don't know French), knowing full well that we've now committed ourselves to a multi-year, multi-thousand dollar project. There really is no looking back now.
On January 27, 2010 we took a half-day off from work to be home when Fed Ex delivered the crate. We all but sat outside in the driveway waiting for the truck to arrive so we could pounce upon it and get started. It took a little over three and a half hours for us to go through the crate and inventory the contents.
Unfortunately the spar and the upper and lower stabilator horns were on backorder so we put ourselves into a holding pattern for the actual work to begin. While we waited for these important pieces to arrive, Mark read, re-read, re-re-read, and then re-re-re-read the instructions, spent hours "investigating" information on the web, and finally decided that it would be money well spent if we were to get a band saw and a drill press. I contented myself with making all of the labels for every little bag of goodies (nut, bolt, rivet etc.) that came with the empennage kit so that Mark could keep everything orderly once the work begins.
After practicing a bit with the Scotch Brite wheel on the bench grinder first, Mark began deburring the rudder hinge brackets on February 6, 2010. During that week we also found the closest NAPA autoparts store so we could get a case of the self-etching primer that others have found to work so well.
So there you have it, from my perspective.
-Nancy
No comments:
Post a Comment