Lower Wing Inspection Rings and First Bracing Cable End Wire Wrapped

 I glued all the inspection rings on the lower wings.  I find it helpful to draw pencil lines around the ring and for the doily.  It makes it easier to apply the glue for the ring without making a mess.  Just lightly brush out the excess which squeezes out for a smooth look.  The same with the Poly-Brush for the doily.

I've soldered up my first cable end for the new rigging cables.  My WACO NINE uses wire wrapped and soldered ends for all the 1x19 bracing cables.  The Fly Baby was designed for Nicopress sleeves instead of the wire wrapped end.  The wire wrap only achieves 90% of the rated strength of the cable.  The Nicopress sleeve achieves 100% of the rated strength.  The only problem with the sleeve is you have the end of the cable sticking out to snag things like me, and I already get too many cuts.  I like the look of the wire wrap but don't want to risk having weak joints.  My solution is to use a zinc plated sleeve and wire wrap and solder the free end.  I like the look.  I'll explain the process in later posts when I have a little more time.

Inspection Rings on Upper Left Wing

We had a nice afternoon so I was able to glue on the inspection rings, apply their doilies and fill the reinforcing tapes with Poly-Brush.

Head Rest and Baggage Compartment

The plan for the headrest and baggage compartment was to repaint the aluminum, replace the headrest cover with leather, to match the seat, and then use some of that leather to cover the cockpit coaming.

 When I removed the sheet metal I found many of the joints on the headrest had come undone.  The gussets were fine it was the joints on the bulkhead and cross piece which did not hold.  None of these had the snug fit required for Resorcinol glue.  I cleaned them up and re-glued them with epoxy.  They should last this time.

I used a piece of 2" foam rubber for the padding.

 I sewed up a new headrest cover from the seat leather.

 The cover was nailed to the bulkhead using my brad nailer.

 There were also some loose joints in the baggage compartment frame so I re-glued them and painted the inside white to make it a little brighter inside.

 The aluminum pieces were stripped, sanded and repainted.  I painted the inside of the cockpit area flat black and the inside of the baggage compartment white.

The aluminum pieces were screwed back onto the frames with brass screws.  Steel crews just get rusty in wood.

 The headrest is screwed to the skin of the baggage compartment.

 The baggage door was covered with Naugahyde.  I decided to cover it with a piece of 1/16" mahogany plywood.  My original plan was to stain it with a dark stain, then mask the word Experimental (required by regulations), sand blast away the stain on the letters, and varnish it.  That all worked perfect but the color of stained mahogany is not enough darker to see the difference once it's been varnished.  This would have worked with birch plywood.

Instead I painted the text a cream color and moved on.  I didn't want the word Experimental on the outside of the plane.

 I had pre-drilled all my screw holes and then sprayed the door and the wood with contact cement.

 The problem was how to get all the holes aligned as the 2 parts mated because there is no moving it once they tough.  I used some pin punches to align them at the bottom as I brought them together.

A couple clecos were used at the top and then the parts were pressed tightly to set the glue.

It worked and all the holes matched.

 The frame for the cockpit coaming is a piece of 3/8" steel tubing Pop-riveted to the aluminum skin.  It worked as good as a rolled edge.  You probably don't want to stand on it but it's been there since we widened the fuselage with the stringers, and the skin has no wrinkles after about 45 years.

 To cover the structure we used a piece of 3/4" heater hose.  The hose was split so the curve naturally fit the coaming.  There isn't room for it to fit on the inside so it needed some of the hose removed at the ends.  If I were making new skins I would make them just tall enough to avoid the fit problem at the forward end.
Originally we had Naugahyde glued over the tube and wrapped to the inside.  That worked but I lost one of them while flying one day.

 Before we widened the fuselage with the stringers we had the cover laced to the skin.  That's how it's done on my WACO NINE so that's what I did this time.  No more pieces blowing off in flight.

I cut 2 strips of 6" wide leather.  I glued the folded edge, where the lacing will go, and then sewed near the edge for a finished look.

 I found I had a problem gluing the ends to the hose.  I wiped the hose with MEK and that let the contact cement stick.

 I used the calipers to figure out where the front of the bulkhead was so I could locate a hole just in front of the bulkhead.  I then located the rest of the lacing holes so they were evenly spaced.  I punched 3/16" holes in the leather but drilled 1/8" holes in the aluminum so I could cleco the leather in place as I worked.  Once I was ready to do the lacing I re-drilled the holes to 3/16".

 To locate the holes in the leather on the inside I just pulled the leather tight down and put a tick mark at the bump made by the end of the cleco.

Once the holes were punched on the inside I used some 1/8" Pop-rivet washers to allow the clecos to hold the leather in position.

 I used a 45" boot lace and started at the forward end so the knot would be in the baggage compartment.  By having a hole just in front of the bulkhead the cord just wraps around the frame while lacing.  The door doesn't fit so tight that the lace gets in the way.

I didn't worry about which end should be longer at the start in order to get even ends for tying the knot.  Once it was laced I just worked some slack around to get the ends even.

I knotted the ends with a square knot locked with a half hitch on each side.  It works.

 I like the look and it's very secure.

At the forward end I located holes to use the skin crews to hold the leather.  I got some brass upholstery washers and one size longer crews.

At the forward end I drilled a hole in the aluminum and pulled the leather tight with some rib stitch cord.  Other than a small wrinkle in the leather I like it.

 It's ready to go back on the plane.

The lock in the baggage door uses the glove box key from our old '58 Chevy Station Wagon that we used to haul the fuselage to Swartz Creek High School for a display back in '64.  I think that's the station wagon we used to bring the engine home from Andy Anderson in Illinois.  Ah the good old days.

Cowl Panels and Nose Bowl Finished

 Measurements were taken from some of the screw holes on the firewall to the filler neck on the tank.  Those measurements were used to locate the hole for the filler neck in the cowling.  That was the last hole needed before painting all the metal.

 All the metal parts were Alodined to reduce corrosion and the side of each piece getting paint was primed.

 The nose bowl was primed then small dents and scratches were cleaned up with a light body putty.  It took a few times of sanding, priming, puttying, and repeat before it was ready for color.

I painted it red as used by "A" Flight in the 103 rd AS.  It's the largest part I've been able to bake in the oven.  All the small cowl panels and parts were baked.

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 The finished windshield was riveted to the cockpit cowl panel.  All the riveting was done after painting because I like the more industrial look.  Maybe that's why I like Doc Martens.

The cowl bumps and hinges were riveted on the same way.  I like the look.

 To make all the rivet hole stay aligned I had to hold the curve in the lower panel while I riveted the outlet scoop.  A couple Clecos and a bungee cord worked perfect to hold the shape.

 Around the carburetor I used some pieces of 3" wide cowl seal.  I'll trim it and add some slits so it floats well around the carb.

I Pop-riveted the seals in place with a doubler on the inside of the seals.  I used Pop-rivets so they are easy to remove when the seals need replacing.  I didn't use screws because I don't have to worry about them coming loose in this hot environment.