Finally back from the paint shop

Today G-FUUN sat in the sun in all it's Orange glory.

I haven't unwrapped everything yet but what I've seen so far looks stunning.

The orange looks it's best when the sun is shining and the pearl is doing it's thing.

It should look good for £6k though :) (Murray tried to charge me £8k but I was having none of it. The estimate given was for £5.5k and the design and silver ended up being less complicated and less expensive than when that estimate was done, so there was no justification for trying to charge more).

Also today the cockpit cover arrived from Sky4Covers. It fits pretty good and is made of quality fabric. Sarah from Sky4Covers is good to deal with and turned this around fairly quickly and for a good price. £435.

Everything was well protected with bubble wrap.

Cowling is looking pretty mint.

When the sun is out it takes on a lighter, brighter look - which was exactly what I was hoping for.

Canopy is not on properly in this pic.

Cover from Sky4Covers. Good people to deal with, recommended!

New toy

I've bought a share in this brand new Pipistrel Virus SW.

I've already done about 7.5 hours in it in 10 days.

It's a great little machine for touring (with my girlfriend, which is why I've bought into it.)

More specs and details here: http://www.pipistrel.si/plane/virus-sw/overview

I hope the Twister does not get too jealous.

Week 260 - Long range tank

Hours to date: 2626.0

The long range tank is almost there.

The top is getting the filler neck fitted and also the vent line. I've made a rubber seal between the filler neck and tank top. It will be screwed down by 8x M4 bolts and nuts. The vent line will be a tapped thread and fitted with resin to seal it.

After I sealed the interior with neat resin it was time to try a capacity test (and at the same time a second leak test).

It holds 58 litres - which is more than I need. 50 litres will be plenty for the legs I'll be doing across the Atlantic. The only question now is how will it affect the balance? I may have to add a water tank to the front of the aircraft somewhere so I can balance out the weight.

Good news is that there were no leaks! Some more testing will be done with fuel next and also after the fitting at the bottom is done.

Further work on the tank will be put on hold now as the plane is back from the paint shop so it's full steam ahead on that for now. 

58 litres capacity - more than enough.

No leaks either! Water on the ground is spilt from the filling container.

Neat resin on the inside has sealed it well.

Part way through fitting the filler neck and vent line connector.

Twisters over Farnborough

In what must be the highest honour - the Twister Duo were asked to display at Farnborough this year.

I went on the Friday with my video camera at the ready only to be disappointed as they were not flying that day - being pushed to Saturday due to another (parachute) team missing their display earlier in the week and taking their slot on Friday.

As it turned out the show was cut short at 4pm anyway due to crappy weather coming in.

I had a great day out anyway and mostly went for the trade show where I learnt about a lot of new developments and met some really interesting people.

Well done to Pete and Chris for a stunning display on Saturday!

Week 258 - Long Range tank, Paint update

Hours to date: 2621.0

Well this paint job is taking a while isn't it?!

The initial estimate was for 5-6 weeks, so far we are up to week 11...

I do think it will be finished soon though. Maybe late this week or early next week.

In the meantime I have been working on the long range fuel tank.

I got the sides and back done and decided to do a capacity test, first 5 litres in then I went back inside to get another 5 litres and when I came outside there was water leaking like a sieve from the bottom! Complete FAIL!!!

On closer inspection I realised that the bottom and front were laid up badly without enough resin to properly fill in the very open weave of the 450g heavy weight fabric. So I sanded down the surfaces of both of those and put quite a lot of resin on and finished with a complete covering of peel ply. This did the trick and sealed up all the holes nicely. It does not leak now (it wasn't leaking from the sides or back as I did a better job with those on the first go). 

Just to be sure I am now sealing the whole interior with another layer of 'neat' resin (no peel ply this time) which should provide a fuel tight interior. I will be testing it extensively before it ever goes in the plane anyway.

On the second test I got the capacity up to 55 litres so it is more than enough for the trip to Oshkosh. We'll have to see how it affects the weight and balance. I plan to test a small amount first and then progressively up the capacity in small increments and test each of those to determine what is the safe limit for it. I may need to think about having some weight put forward to compensate and I've already started to have thoughts about that. Will keep you posted as and when I get to flight testing stage with this.

Work will continue on the top of the tank now, fitting the filler nozzle and vent line. I won't be bonding it on until I am absolutely sure everything is fine with the interior of the tank first. 

If I could start again on this tank I would not use the heavy weight carbon 450g fabric. I would go for a 200-220g hybrid Carbon/Kevlar fabric. This would be much easier to wet out and not have the same porous issues of the heavy weight fabric (with the Kevlar it would also have better impact resisting properties. Also I found the 450g fabric a pain to cut out and the rotary cutter did not work on it. Avoid!

On the modification front, I heard back from the LAA and they requested I now fill in a more detailed form for each mod. I've done one of these and started the other one which I hope to finish this week. The tailplane mod was well received so I think that should go through OK. I don't foresee them having any major problems with the cowl and scoop mod either.

I think realistically we are looking at late August, early September now for a first flight.

Getting ready to lay up the first side. I used Duct tape on the plywood as a release.

First side done. Needs trimming out here.

Inside view - with peel ply and a good amount of resin you get a fuel tight finish.

Second side going in. Note the poor quality of the bottom and front panels.

It's ugly but it gets you there. One more flange to go on the top.

Figuring out where the filler hose connection will go.

Layup for the top panel, needs trimming out here. 4 layers of heavy weight fabric with 6 layers in the area where the filler hose connection will go (top left).

'Neat' resin going in to seal against fuel. I'm doing this one side at a time to ensure good coverage with no resin runs.

Cowling is looking damn sexy in it's new colours.

Silver dividing line is done. This blue mask shows where the black will go (below the top edge of the blue line - yes it will need remasking this was just for me to approve).

Nice sweeping line down the fuse.

Wings and tailplanes in orange.

Week 256 - Trim tabs, Long Range Tank and Paint update

I've made up some fixed trim tabs out of ali sheet.

They will go on the rudder and starboard aileron, fixed with double sided tape (same as Pete does).

The holes are drilled so they will be easier to bend.

With the long range tank I decided to cut off the sides and just make the width the right size to slide in through the seat area. So I've got to remake the sides and then make the back and top.

I've used some plywood to make up the shapes needed and will lay up directly onto these, overlapping onto the base and back as I go.

I visited Murray again today to see how things were getting on with the paint. 

We sorted out the masking of the 'curve' which is the critical bit that will determine what shape the black takes on the fuselage sides.

We also figured out the locations for the registration letters - which will be sprayed on rather than vinyl - so they have to be right.

The orange on the spinner looks stunning (see the video below). When it is out in the direct sunlight it looks great and then indoors it takes on a different look as well. 

The rest of the fuselage has been 'flatted back' in preparation for the final clear coat which will go over the entire paint job (black, silver and orange) giving one smooth uniform surface with no ridges.

I think Murray will finish it this week so I guess it should be back in my garage by next week.

Fixed trim tabs

Making up plywood molds for the sides of the long range tank.

The filling tube will be mounted about here and is long enough so the opening can go outside of the cockpit when refueling.

After filling it can be zip tied to a bracket back inside in about this position.

Spinner - photo taken inside

Spinner - photo taken outside

Blue masking line shows where the silver and black will go below.

Happy now with the way this mask line is looking and the position of the rego.

Wing rego will be in silver.

Slightly revised paint design

After discussing the design with Murray I've made a few small tweaks.

As Murray says "Just because something looks good in 2D doesn't mean it will look good in 3D".

The main problem area was the tail. The solution was to move the black and silver down so it doesn't touch the tail/fuse junction. This is to eliminate any weird looking areas where colours start and stop. The opposite was the case with the wing junction where the black goes completely over the top and bottom as it did before, so no problems there.

I've also sorted out the rego artwork and masks are being made up for those now.

Murray will shoot the orange first then the black - the orange is slightly transparent so cannot be put over the black without some show-through.

The orange is quite a tricky paint to apply as it will be in 3 parts. A flat base (of orange) then the pearl, then a clear coat. The pearl must be done in 'one go' with all parts in the correct place for it to look right.

Today I visited Pete and got the aileron fairings. They are just stuck on with double sided tape.

I also got a chance to see his cold air inlet mod. He says that for all that effort he has not noticed any difference in performance. Also as there is no alternate air selectable then flight through freezing rain is not a good idea.

Hopefully next week I will have some photos to share of an orange Twister.

Revised paint design for the fuselage.

Pete's Twisters are in plain white now while they look for a new sponsor.

Aileron trim tab. Need to make some of these up.

Aileron pushrod fairings are a close fit.

NACA cold air intake.

Doesn't make any discernible difference according to Pete.

View inside the NACA duct.

Aileron fairings. Will need the edges tidying up and fitting at the back.

Some placards.

Visit to the painters

I drove up to see Murray today and drop off the gear leg fairings.

It also gave me an opportunity to see how things were progressing and discuss some finer details.

I did a bit of work to the long range fuel tank and hope to make much more progress with that this week.

I'll be visiting Murray again next week to 'sign off' the shape of the flowing line down the fuselage side before he shoots the orange.

Oil Cooler scoop looking sweet.

Cowling awaiting a rub down and more primer

Wings are almost there.

Looking pretty flawless in primer

Other bits in primer with a few spots of filler here and there.

Nice garden ornament Murray! Hawker Hunter nose section.

Fuse looking much nicer now with the top joining line rounded off.