One
of the aspects that I love about owning an
airplane are those occasional times where I
can do a little bit of work and make the plane
look a bit better. Puttering, in other
words...just fiddling with the airplane in
ways that doesn't affect its airworthiness.
Had
that opportunity this afternoon. The
right-side wing walk has been bugging me for a
while. It was really chipped, showing the
silver substrate in a number of places. I'd
replaced the left-side wing walk with the wing
repairs 18 months ago, so the wing walks
didn't match in appearance. This picture
is from BEFORE I did the left-side wing walk,
but shows how the right side was showing some
open spots.
Had
the Airport Days
coming up in two weeks, when ol'
Moonraker was set up as a photo background.
Had got a nasty cold and didn't want to fly,
but this looked like a good opportunity to
putter in the hangar.
First
thing was to remove the old wing walk. I used
a wide chisel to get under it and separate it
from the wing. Came off in a bunch of pieces,
of course.
Once
the wingwalk was off, I scrubbed the area with
acetone. Washed it down with water,
afterwards.
I had
wingwalk material left over from doing the
left wing. Cut a new piece to size (8" x 30")
and marked the starting point on the wing.
At
that point, it was just peel and stick. It did
(of course!) manage to stick in an awkward
way, but was able to pop it off and lay it
down fairly smoothly.
Anyway, it's purdier now,
and both sides match!
Ron
Wanttaja
Return to the Stories Pag