Painting: Top cowl paint prep.

In preparation for painting (originally planned for this summer, however recent events have delayed that indefinitely), I needed to smooth down the weave and remove the pinholes from the cowl.  I chose to do the upper cowl first (the lower cowl was done later, in November).  My plan was to squeegee epoxy over the cowl's surface, sand it down smooth and apply a high build primer.

First, to give the epoxy some "tooth", I sanded the weave areas with 220-grit.

Then I applied a single layer of epoxy to the weaved area only.

Here it is after sanding it down smooth.When I went to sand it down, it became clear to me that I needed to bring the upper cowl home and work on it in a more accessible location.  Turns out, I could fit the upper cowl in my car's little trunk.

 

 

Once at home, I could work on it more easily.  Here's the upper cowl after sanding the entire surface, getting ready for two, back-to-back, applications of epoxy.

Following application of the two epoxy coats.

After sanding down the two final coats of epoxy.  Now it's ready for the high build primer.

All done.

Interior: Side panels.

Originally I didn't want side panels because I didn't want to cart around the extra weight.  But a few months ago I was in a friend's RV-7A with side panels which changed my mind.  Plus, I believe the best way to reduce the weight of a plane is to reduce the weight of its pilot!

Here are the seats and armrests I have installed in my airplane.  They were received on 27-Jan-16 and placed in the plane for the first time on 22-Mar-17.  They are from Flightline Interiors and are quite comfortable. 

Flightlines' design option for the side panels are shown below.

I requested this panel and coloring.  I wanted the pieces in the middle to be red to match the red motif elsewhere.  The panels would have no trouble accommodating my headset hangers.

Here are my new side panels in place. As packed, the box they shipped in weighed 6 pounds and I neglected to weigh the pieces before putting them in the plane.

I also had Flightlines make a cover for my poor-man's seat warmers.

As an aside, I actually have pictures of the interior with all gray pieces since Flightlines made an error originally.  Here's what that looked like.  I prefer the red pieces shown above, of course.  Note, the pieces by the arm rests were too tall on this set, so the arm rest stuck out.  The shortened pieces shown above accommodate the arm rests properly.

Modifications: Filled hole for stall vane.

I installed the stall vane per plans (page 17-07).  However, my GRT HXr EFIS on my panel does not support a stall vane.  The one thing the stall vane was consistently adept at doing was ripping my pants.  The vane had to go.  The only minor issue with doing so was filling the hole in the wing.

I mixed up some epoxy with flox and cab-o-sil and stuffed the mixture into the hole from the front, then reached in from the access panel and ensured it was adequately covering the hole on the inside.  I then put a piece of wax paper on the front, moving it around a bit to get rid of air then taped it down.

Upon removal of the wax paper, the area already looked pretty good.

Following some sanding with 200 grit followed by 400, it came out really nice.  And my pants look forward to no more snags.