Wing Men

These wings may be fabric covered, but they are heavy and awkward to carry.  Tom Damico, Tom Garden and Bob Oxford had just taken them from the hangar and the waiting fuselage.  We're lucky to have a paved apron for the assembly.

Nick looks a bit like an orchestra conductor here...

After a lot of muscle strain and patience, the wings were on.  

Mellow Yellow is beginning to resemble something that will fly!

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Assembly Day

We arrive, eager to assemble as much of Mellow Yellow as possible.  This day has been a long time coming, and we know that even after today there are myriad tasks before we get in the air (notice the covering where an engine should be?)

There were many small fasteners and cables to rig, and the wings,
struts and fuselage had to be moved outside for easier assembly.

And then it was time to "move 'em out!" Well, not exactly a rodeo; we carefully, slowly escorted the parts outside into the daylight. It was a perfect day, temperature fine, breezes slight (Tom Damico did point out though that all 3 windsocks were pointing in different direction.)

Bob, Tom G, Tom D and Nick escort a wing

Struts are carefully laid out

Wings, struts, fuselage arranged for assembly. To be continued..

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Hi Ho Silver

Paul came to mow NK71's runways and taxi areas when the "Tin Man" (aka Piper Clipper) caught his eye. At last Nick and Tom have gotten to this stage, after being delayed and dismayed by technical problems such as malfunctioning spray paint guns, etc. (sound familiar readers?) Your guess is as good as mine as to what Paul was trying to illustrate to Nick: "the runway grass is this tall - about right?", or maybe "I hear you guys have layers of Poly-Tak/Brush/Spray this thick - isn't it time for the color now?"

See the orange Poly-Brush through the silver Poly-Spray?
At least two more cross-coats of silver are needed.

Now notice the difference one more cross-coat of Poly-Spray makes.
And still at least one more cross-coat of silver will be applied. 

Nick explained that the Poly-Spray protects the fabric from the sun's ultra-violet rays that would otherwise quickly deteriorate the fabric. But the silver color? Why silver? It isn't just any old silver "color" according to Nick.

According to the Poly-Fiber website: "The best blocking agent against the ultra violet rays of the sun is aluminum pigment. We take the same formulation of Poly-Brush and add aluminum pigment to it. It sprays on just like the spray coats of Poly-Brush. Silver is another term for the Poly-Spray coats. Some people refer to the aluminum coats as silver coats."

There's something about that matt silver coating that does seem substantial and solid. It still seems odd though that you have to "wet sand" the silver to eliminate the now visible imperfections.  Even weirder to me is that you iron out the protruding pinked tape ends and other minor rough spots through a piece of teflon. 

The silver coating has a way of highlighting little imperfections that escape your attention in the prior orange Poly-Brush stage.  

While Nick was working, a noisy helicopter decided to practice some maneuvers right outside the hangar doors. Nick, as usual, kept working.

One man's "tunnel vision"; another man's determination to get this baby in the air! 

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Landing Gear Bungee Installation

"Are you kidding me?" There was nothing particularly intuitive about the bungee installation, and the instructions weren't so instructive.  We were using large closed loop bungees and were respectful of their ability to dangerously bolt off course if we botched the installation.

Under the circumstances, eye protection seems like a good idea.  Another good idea was contacting the Short Wing Piper Club to borrow a bungee attachment tool.  The club has a great lending library for members that lets them borrow specialized tools - all you pay is postage.  Once we figured out how to mount the tool it was a cinch - the scary bungees were demystified and quickly installed.  Thankfully the eye protection wasn't put to the test.

Stretching the bungees into place requires a lot of strength; without the club's tool we might still be at it. Dick stopped by on his way home from work (no, we did not page him), and characteristically jumped in to help.

As Tom pulls the right side bungees into place, Dick helps counterbalance 

the backward pressure. Nick keeps the plane from an unplanned flight.

Pretty, aren't they?  Thanks for the help Short Wing Piper Club.

Contemplating bungees; thank goodness the installation was easier than expected.  In the next post I'll tell you what happened right before the victorious bungee installation. Tom was firm that he wanted to end the day on a good note following the aggravation he and Nick had just had with the left side landing gear.  In this picture Nick and Tom fill Dick in about the landing gear mayhem they'd just encountered. Never mind - all's well that ends well.

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.