Being Framed

I have been accomplishing small things on 98K the past few days. We also finally finished the bed frame previously mentioned.

Tonight, I cleaned up the remaining stringer for the right side of the fuselage. It is about 3 feet in length and goes just forward of the baggage door. I somehow missed it when doing the other ones last weekend. I also decided to clean up the baggage door frame.

Once I had them Scotch Brited, I used MEK for the final clean up, and then mixed some epoxy primer and painted away. You can see the results.

They are still lying in the driveway, drying on a drop cloth. Hopefully, Kala will see them when she returns from visiting friends later this evening. Hmmm, maybe I'll go move them on second thought!

More stringers and a bed frame

Yesterday was a nice cool day by Kansas standards. It was only in the mid 80's. I took advantage of the temperature and cleaned up some more stringers and then epoxy primed them. Maybe later today I will install them.

We have a MAAG meeting later this afternoon (Mid America Antique Airplane Group).

Kala and I have also been re-finishing a bed frame we bought about 6 years ago that has been collecting dust in the garage. She is moving from the dorm to an apartment, so by re-finishing this we achieve 2 benefits. It provides her a device to support her mattress, and it gives me more room in the garage for Stinson parts. Sort of a win-win situation. She did a nice job on it with minimum coaching from Dad!

Inspecting Progress

This morning, several members of the Beech Employees Flying Club (BEFC) came by to see the progress on 98K. We rolled it out of the garage for better viewing. I provided Krispy Kreme doughnuts for snacks.

Afterwards, we went to Cook Field near Rose Hill to see an RV-12 Light Sport Airplane another BEFC member is building. Mike has a home on Cook Field with his own hangar. It looked like a very nice set up. Keeps me thinking about homes like that in our future.

It was an interesting contrast between the building techniques of 60 years ago and now.

In other news, I got a shipment from Aircraft Spruce yesterday. So, I have plenty of hardware and primer to keep me going for awhile.

Lower Stringer Assembly Attached

It was another nice and cool summer day by Wichita standards, with temperatures in the low 80's. I spent part of the afternoon installing the lower stringer assembly, which I previously had cleaned and epoxy primed, to the fuselage. This assembly, plus a similar one on the top and individual stringers on the sides give 98K's fuselage a rounder look instead of a basic box look of the steel tubing.

The assembly went on with only minor fit issues. I used my auto creeper to roll around underneath the airplane installing drive screws in some locations, cotter keys in others, and I even got to squeeze a few rivets. Willie (our Westie dog), was hanging out in the garage with me. When he saw me on the creeper, he decided that looked like fun and sat on my stomach for a ride. Together, we were too tall to fit underneath the airplane and we both quickly lost interest in that idea.

I have a few more pieces of hardware to install in the assembly near the tail, so I should finish that up tomorrow night.

Primed and Ready

I spent the cooler hours of the morning doing the final MEK cleanup of the lower stringer assembly. Then, I mixed some epoxy primer and started painting. I used a brush for this task, and it made me glad I had the fuselage steel tubing sprayed. While it is possible to do this with a brush, nothing beats a spray gun for smooth application. I left the final product in the sun to "bake on" the finish. Next, I will try and install this. Then I can finish running cables and other items in the lower fuselage.

Milestones Continue

There are several ways to measure progress on a project like this. I was thinking about this as I was sitting in the oral surgeon's office today waiting on Kala to have her wisdom teeth extracted. I was looking through a People magazine and they had two photos of some actor that were almost identical - could you find the 10 differences. It reminded me of the games in my Weekly Reader as a kid. Anyway, over the past 1.5 years there have been times I could take two photos weeks apart and maybe not be able to find 10 things different about 98K. There has definitely been an ebb and flow to the project.

Yesterday, I passed the 200 hour mark on the project. I originally estimated it might take 500 hours, so I am not quite half way there. I don't keep track of all the time I put in. Ordering parts and blogging are examples of time I don't track. I also didn't count the time day dreaming about my instrument panel layout. This is also my 134th blog entry - another measure of progress.

So, what have I been doing the last few days. Yesterday, I spent the morning cleaning the stringers and bulkheads that run under 98K's fuselage - it changes the boxy shape of the steel tubing to a rounder shape (see picture). I also laid out the patterns on the wood for the floor boards tonight and realized I need another sheet to do the baggage compartment. I also brought all my boxes of nuts, bolts, washers, and other hardware in this afternoon to the kitchen table and organized them taking advantage of the wealth of pills bottles we seem to have.

Tomorrow, I hope to epoxy prime the stringer / bulkhead assembly. Maybe I will also try cutting some floor boards. I also plan to head back to the lumber yard for more wood. As always, I'll keep you posted.