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A very nice daytrip to St. Charles County Airport - Smartt Field and fabric covering continues, second piece completed... 08/30/03 - I mentioned last week that Marilyn and I were planning to meet some Rans folk at St. Charles County Airport in Missouri in order to do a little detailed inspection on Rans factory aircraft, have lunch and chat a bit. After the visit, we had a very nice scenic drive back home via two river ferries, then down the 'Great River Road' north of Alton, IL and saw some tremendous wildlife. All in all a very nice day trip, even if we did drive! A few photos from last Sunday follow, then we'll get back to work on the second stabilizer later in the page. We drove to Smartt Field Sunday morning and arrived a bit before Ed and Del, so we had a chance to chat a bit with a few members of the local EAA Chapter at their new headquarters:
Ed and Del arrived just a bit after noon, flying in with the S-7C and S-6S Tricycle gear. There was also a very nice Rans factory built S-9 Chaos that another local flyer had brought in just for the occasion. Here's the certified Courier which was a very big hit with the chapter members:
Ed had removed the cowling on the 6S so I could inspect the engine compartment, layout, etc:
The S-9 Chaos:
Even though it's not a Rans product, I had to shoot this RV-6A because it was just TOO NICE!!!:
After leaving St. Charles County Airport, we drove to Golden Eagle and took the ferry across the Missouri River to Illinois. Just before we got to the ferry landing, we saw the biggest flock of Heron that either of us had ever seen:
Here's a shot of Marilyn as we were crossing on the Golden Eagle Ferry:
After missing a day and a half of work last week with tremendous elbow pain from a flare up of the tendonitis problem I've been suffering from lately, I was hesitant to work today, but got started around noon. I received the shipment from Superflite this week so if I EVER FINISH with the fabric I can at least do the primer work. Here's what is purported to be ENOUGH of the primer/filler to do the Coyote. (I didn't receive anything that was made of gold, but it sure is priced like it):
I began with the right stab today by marking and trimming to final size for the bottom side:
Adhesive applied and trimmed:
Preshrunk and ready for the top side:
Getting ready to mark and trim the top side fabric piece:
Topside applied and trimmed:
After shrinking through three temperature settings, I now have two pieces covered. They're not finished, because the stabilizers have rib rivets, tape, etc. yet to go but I'm going to cover all five pieces of the empennage before I go to that step.
I enclosed both stabilizer sections in plastic and removed them to a storage area (read 'guest bedroom'...I hope we don't have any company soon - I've got both seats and the stabilizers in there now) in order to keep them clean until I get to the next step. Next, I laid out the fabric roll, marked and cut fabric for the elevators, rudder and found the long side piece from the cut for the elevators will be perfect for one of the flaps:
I finished today's work after laying out the left elevator, setting the fabric and marking for final trim:
My original goal for the long holiday weekend was to cover the right stabilizer, both elevators and the rudder, but I'll have to wait and see how the tendonitis in my left elbow is tomorrow when I get up. You know, after I finish these pieces, there's only another six pieces to go...the fuselage, two wings and the flaps and ailerons. ;^) More updates soon... |
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Last Update: 08/31/2003 |
