Day 221 & 222

Painted our first wing! We painted the right wing, wheel spats and the lower engine cowling. The paint process is the same as the other times we have painted. The key is being patient with the process. The two tone on the wing and cowling turned out great and the solid red spats look amazing as well. Very excited to see all the parts come together soon.

We have also started assembling the canopy hatch doors. We have the handles installed and used SikaFlex to fill the holes in the windows. Tomorrow we’ll be able to trim it smooth. The manual says to paint over them for a nicer finish, but we’re thinking of just getting some quarter sized vinyl to stick over them. It will be quick, clean and truly should look better than trying to paint little spots.

We were having some trouble with one of the latch assemblies. The key tumbler would fall out after being installed. We came to the conclusion that the shaft was not being held tight enough. We were able to shave about a 1/16 of an inch off and it now holds in there without any issues. We were then able to finish installing the latch assemblies for both doors. The latch covers will get installed after mounting the doors on the canopy and finishing the lock systems and adjusting the latches. That’s also when we will finish the hatch shock installation.