This is dedication. (or stupidity) This shot gives an idea of how much snow we've gotten and how hard it has been to get to the hangar. I had to climb up the snow and dig down to my door handle, then drop into the hangar. Ridiculous. The following shows the last few weeks work.
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The filler caps are back from the engraver with the capacity added. They look great.
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Here are the door handles removed from the door. The edges are sharp and uncomfortable and the outer handles would look better buffed out to a glossy stainless steel finish.
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Here is the first step completed. The edges are all rounded. Now some time with the sanding block and polishing wheel.
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The finished product all buffed and polished. Much better.
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Here is the back side of the door trim panel. Parts provided with the kit didn't fit exactly. You can see the added part by the strake cutoff used to make it fit.
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An almost finished door - just needs rubber door seal.
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Sean checks out what will soon be his view on our trips. At least when Mom's not sitting up front. Time to take it out to the hangar and reinstall it.
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Tom Finch is working on his own kit in Delaware. He stopped by to help me out. We decided to install that cool HID light.
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The HID light ALMOST clears the tire. Aaaaargh! No wonder no one is installing them in RG's. Time for a little ingenuity - this beauty is too cool not to find a way to make it work.
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The solution was simple if laborious. Remove the landing light lens and permanently bond the HID light to the forward side of the light housing, then reattach the plexi cover. I know, what about maintenance? As you will see in the next picture, you can replace the bulb simply by unclipping it and sliding it out of the reflector. Thanks to Andy Millin for pointing this out.
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....and more silicone on the back. As extra insurance, I made 2 aluminum retainer clips and bonded them to the back of the reflector with high temp Permatex. We turned it on and it worked! It was extremely bright.
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Now the lens is siliconed back onto the fuselage. It is taped off to prevent any silicone from getting on the primer, which would prevent the final paint from adhering. Looks nice.
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Now it's time to mount the ballast. First, I made 2 hard points, drilled and tapped for 6-32 screws and attached them to the ballast unit. Then I mixed 5 minute epoxy with Cabosil and held it against the fuselage till it bonded. Then carefully remove the screws holding the unit and the hardpoints are ready to glass in place.
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Hard points are glassed in and peel plied. Next visit to the hangar, I can mount the ballast and the new HID light system is complete.
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Here are the doors reinstalled and the 12 inch N numbers in place. The doors look great, but won't shut with the rubber trim installed. More fooling around with the position of the door seals gets me almost there.
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The door latches engage, but won't close completely. Scott Swing suggests leaving them closed for a week. I'll do that and see what I have to deal with next weekend.
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