Great Bench Strength

I started to work on 98K last weekend and finally gave up after not being able to find the parts and tools I needed.  I decided I better get everything organized before proceeding.  One key to organization would be to have a work bench.  I had a tiny one in the garage where we lived previously that was maybe 4 foot by 1.5 foot (a Sears special).  So, a better work bench became job one.

Kala and Nathan are on spring break this week.  After running around for a few days getting wedding plans finalized, I was able to con Nathan into going to Lowes Wednesday night to buy some wood for a work bench (he has a small truck).  I mentioned my concept for a work bench to Nathan and before I could blink, he had made a detailed sketch and was busy estimating how much wood we would need.  The bench would be 8 foot by 2 foot, with an 8 foot by 1 foot storage shelf below.  We decided to build 4 of these and fill up much of the north hangar wall.  While we were getting the wood, I also bought a chop saw.

By the time we finished with dinner and other activities yesterday, it was about 9:00 PM.  Nathan and I decided to build a bench and check out our concept.  Since the floor slopes for drainage, we had to determine exactly where the bench would go so we could cut each leg the right length and end up with a level bench.  The bench turned out really well.  How could it not with an engineer and architect teamed up.  We were so jazzed we decided to build another.  Nathan suggested we cut all the pieces and drill all the holes for the remaining 3 benches, then begin assembly.  It was a great plan .  We ended up building all 4 benches in under 4 hours.  We also took an ice cream break in there.

It was a lot of fun working with my future son in law.  I was so excited by the time we finished I had trouble falling asleep.  I look forward to many more projects we can work on together.  Here are a few pictures of our fun:

Nathan and I after finishing the first work bench.

The new saw is proudly displayed and was a great asset.

Kala made her first and probably last use

 of the saw.   :)    See video below.

The finished product: 32 feet of work bench!

I have my sand blaster (red box) on there.  Further down,

the black boxes are my hangar stereo.  I have spent today

filling in more items.

Flying Carpet

A box arrived from Airtex today containing the carpet for 98K.  Of course, I had to make a trial fit tonight after finishing with the seeding and fertilizing of the yard (see new house blog for details).  The carpet is gold and looks great.  I also have 3 extra yards for the side panels.  Speaking of side panels, they did not arrive today.  They are coming in a separate box, so maybe Monday!

Gold carpet on front floor.  Scuff plates for protection from

busy heels working those rudder pedals on takeoff and landing.

A nice touch I didn't expect.

Carpet in the cabin area with a seat placed in

there temporarily to see how the colors all

look together.  I got 2 thumbs up from Debbie,

Kala, and Nathan.  Spring break is next week

and they will be splitting their time

between here and Topeka.  Yea for spring!

Parts Tower

Our church has a silent auction a few weeks prior to Thanksgiving each year.  At the past auction, I bid on and won 10 hours of woodworking time.  I figured there would be something either for the house or the airplane I would need.  A few weeks ago, I asked Roy, the person who had donated his time to the auction, to make me a tower to keep my airplane hardware in.  I currently keep everything in different medicine containers in a few different boxes.

As you can see from the picture, Roy constructed a tower that holds the medicine containers.  They are at a slight angle to keep from falling out.  The tower is on casters so I can roll it around the hangar.  I will probably be out in the hangar later tonight transferring the containers from the boxes to the tower.  Roy did a great job, especially given the vague desription of what I wanted.  Thanks Roy!

In other news, I am still waiting on my shipment from Airtex previously mentioned.  I am going to call tomorrow and see what's up.

Interior Parts on Order

I have been playing around with foam board to see if I could make interior panels out of it.  While it is light in weight, I decided it probably wasn't rugged enough.  I decided to call Airtex and see if they would sell me blank panels.  I don't have any patterns from the old interior since it wasn't quite to type design.  The previous interior was leather glued to the various fuselage tubes in the cabin.  It looked nice enough, but made it pretty hard to inspect anything between the fabic on the outside and the leather on the inside.  There was also a lot of suface corrosion on these tubes apparently from the glue.

The folks at Airtex sell 4x8 sheets of the stuff they make wall panels from - sort of like corrogated plastic someone told me.  Anyway, for a price, they agreed to make me a set of panels from their patterns.  I will use some of the leather left over from my seats to cover the panels.  I also ordered a new headliner (sandlewood) and carpet (gold).  I also asked them to include enough extra carpet to do the lower part of the side walls - the kick panel area.

So, hopefully I will receieve a shipment early next week.