On January 4 2017 I learned that my QB fuselage and wings were both in Oregon. I paid the balance due and sent a deposit check to Partain Trading Company to secure my place in the January delivery schedule. I placed an order with Fibre Glast for materials and used my remaining wait time to practice fiberglass fabrication. Since I'd be working with chemicals, especially acetone for cleanup, I also invested in a fireproof oily rag container (not pictured). I decided to create an additional practice piece similar to the type used in the Synergy Air training and work on both simultaneously.
Adding black dye to the initial batch of epoxy worked out well. My initial layers of fiberglass were a bit sloppy, as can be expected. I should have been more careful about my proximity to the masking line; I built up too much material there that had to be sanded off later. My first batch of microballoon paste was too runny; I had to shore up both pieces at an angle, and on the flat piece it just created a flat angle... and poured out the sides, which I hastily dammed up with wooden shims. It would seem my mantra during this whole process was "I have no idea whatsoever what the hell I'm doing!" The lightweight filler I purchased was very different from the bondo I've worked with in the past, and that took some getting used to. LOTS of sanding and shaping followed, including jagged removal of buried fineline tape and remasking of the parts... and continuous grievous chanting of the mantra. I got some rattle can filler primer, putting on numerous layers and sanding it off, as well as some spot filler that wasn't as effective as I had hoped.
After much wet/dry sanding, spot filling and clogging paper and shaping tools, I decided enough was enough and masked the parts for the finish coats of flat green and black paint. Overall they turned out ok for my purposes. One tiny chip was pulled up by some of the masking tape, but I decided it wasn't worth the hassle of repair. The lessons were learned, and that's what counts.
Once these projects were complete, I did a thorough cleanup of the main shop and woodshop to get ready for the big pieces to arrive. While I was cleaning, I got the anticipated call from Tony Partain. My QB fuselage and wings were loaded onto the truck yesterday, January 30. Tony's carrier for this shipment is Stewart Transportation. The truck has an additional pickup at Lancair in Redmond OR today, and should be heading east tomorrow. The driver has two deliveries to make in Denver CO and DeKalb IN before he makes it to my area. I should hear from the driver tomorrow with an ETA; I'm anticipating delivery around February 8-10. The truck and trailer are far too big to make it back to my house; I'm anticipating an offload about a block away and transfer to a rented flatbed trailer (and a lot of moving blankets) that I'll use to get the parts to my shop. I only hope they arrive during good weather. Based on forecasts, I should have a window of two days of decent weather... with snow and freezing rain on either side of that window. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and I'll keep you posted.
