The journey begins - purchased a truck.

Joining the fuselage sections?

Dunno - you got me.

 

The whole aerospace industry is mind blowing to me. That was Charleston where they build the 787's. I thought I was in a hangar looking at jets being serviced and cleaned. It was 8 jets in an assembly line, finishing stages.

Anyway. I have to fuss over the intricacies and rest to prepare for the shipping of 20" pipe to BF Texas to move stuff that makes our big trucks go bang bang.

G'night.

 

About a 200 mile radius. I looked at 4. Missed out on 1, decided against the 2nd, almost bought the 3rd - to get a call from a friend that knew of the one I purchased - 25 miles away.

 

The results of a few days pottering in the shop.

I wanted to repaint the skirts - the red had flaked off in spots and looked a bit trashy. So, I went to Sherwin Williams and got some paint. The skirts are plastic of some form, fiberglass repair and bondo worked on a cracked piece ok, the SW guy recommended an extreme bond water based paint, and I thought we were going with an oil based top coat.

I wondered why Xylene, paint thinner, and Xylol were not cleaning the gun out - turns out the guy supplied water based top coat as well. I wasn't completely happy with the semi gloss finish. I sprayed some clear coat enamel over the top just for better water repellent quality.

Then the cutting compound came out. Gretchen did most of the cutting and polishing, between rags by hand, and a cheap polishing machine, it took the better part of 9 hours each to get the surfaces free of the oxidized paint. I had done it quickly when I bought it, but the results were drastically diminished after a trip to the truck wash - citrus shine or something - stripped the finish off again.

Touched up a few other bits and pieces, polished what could be done - and took photos while it lasts!

Maybe a couple of hundred dollars in supplies - didn't really pay much attention. Lots of elbow grease - Gretchen really wanted to hit the top fairing, and I think I just figured out a way to get up there as I backed it out of the shop . . .

Anyway - she may be 16 years old now, but no reason why you can't keep her looking half decent, at a reasonable price.