UPDATES CONTINUED

earlier

May 2007

We are now pretty sick of sanding, finishing and trips to the painters - but the finished result is brilliant. We had a little hiccup over the colour. When the rudder and tailplanes were painted we stored them in Peter's spare bedroom (actually one of his many spare bedrooms). They looked fabulous, really shiny but a little bit grey. We assumed that it was just the reflection of the carpet. When we brought the flaps and ailerons back and compared them to the other bits there was clearly a difference. So we went back to the painters and after some severe red faces and swearing at the chap who prepared the paint, they agreed to sand the parts down a nd start again. They are now fantastic.

The wings took a long time to finish to a high standard and we spent two weekends building elaborate stands so that we could transport the wings on a flat back recover vehicle. Once we were happy with finished supports we had a brainwave and asked Ian Rickard if we could borrow his trailer. 'Of course' he said. So with Ian's help we got the wings to and from the paint shop over a weekend. The workshop now has a pair of redundant wing supports.

June 2007

Peter had been reading about an approved modification which makes the doors and door sills slightly wider. On several occasions when he has sat in the cockpit he commented that it is getting narrower. This has nothing to do with his intake of pies.

We agreed to do the modification for everyone's benefit. It was reasonably straightforward:

We now only have some minor finishing to the fuselage before taking it to the paintshop. Then we will be ready for a photograph of the whole thing rigged, shiny, and ready for our first engine start.

later