March 3, 2012

Bill feels like he's getting behind the curve on painting (I don't, but I'm not saying anything), so I am helping with masking, sanding, etching and so on.

The inside of the cockpit is masked for some final paint work.   It's being painted a color that will match the leather interior.

Meanwhile I need to install the side caps so that the paint will cover everything.

These go in with pop rivets.

We backed the fuselage out of the paint booth to etch and mask it.

All that left is to roll it back in and cover the wheels and tires.

A few hours later the fuselage is primed with a self etching primer.

The last step before a very light sanding pass is to seal the rivets.  There is no intent here to hide the rivets.  The idea is to bridge the edges of the rivet heads to the skin so that there is no gap after painting.  I have tested several approaches including rubbing in primer, glass bead resin filler, Bondo and others.  What seems the easiest and quickest with good results is Loehle Wonder Fill.  It goes on quickly and simply wipes off.  In some places it needs another pass, but that is true with all the processes.

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