Tuesday night is Choir night for my wife… It used to be my volunteer fire department but the move to Chicago forced me to resign. So, with the wife out of the house, there was time to sneak out to visit the aluminum girlfriend!
I only had 2 or 3 hours to work, and luckily I had a task that wasn’t too loud for working at night. The leading edge ribs and splice strips needed priming and painting. I’ve been trying a new method of prepping surfaces for priming. I’ve been scrubbing with red scotchbrite and Comet cleanser. This really leaves a nice, grease free surface. It is a bit more of a hassle since I don’t have running water in the shop. I have a 5 gallon Jerry can of water and some tubs. I also got a simple sprayer from the Home Depot aviation department that I fill with water for rinsing. I got some really nice, clean surfaces. I had to blow off some rinse water with a heat gun and finish with a lint free cloth though. They came out pretty nice!
One of the nice things about the RV14 kit is that Vans put a lot of work into thinking about the bits and pieces outside the airframe that need to go in. Wiring harnesses, antenna mount points, standard panels, etc… Here, they’ve pre-cut the holes for a landing light lens and provide a standard mounting bracket (but no light!). They suggest painting the cove matte black or gloss white. It’s easy to do now. So I painted the bay….
and the two ribs that line the bay. They look shiny here, but the paint hasn’t flashed yet. I did the priming and painting in my new “low end” paint booth. The fan provided a gentle suction that kept the overspray in the booth (trapped in the air filter I wired in).
The backing plates and mount brackets also need to be black, but I’m going to try powder coating those. I’ll of course try it on scrap first, but I’m hopeful that it comes out well. I’ll likely powder coat the access hatch double as well.
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