I can really imagine it flying now

newtech · Post by **newtech** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:02 am

Haven't posted much lately. So much progress, so much yet to do but this summer should be the one.

Wicked Stick · Post by **Wicked Stick** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:26 am

Way to Go Steve ! I love the paint scheme too.
Did you paint it yourself ? If so, want to help me paint mine ? lol

dons · Post by **dons** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 2:47 pm

You are getting very close it looks like, this summer is not too far away. Looks very nice.

Post by **Spike** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 3:17 pm

That is a very fine looking plane. Yes, please tell us about the paint.

newtech · Post by **newtech** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 4:36 pm

Spike wrote:That is a very fine looking plane. Yes, please tell us about the paint.

My plane's given name is Sky Terrier but it's nickname is "Museum of Natural History". It is being painted outside so it has a veritable museum of encapsulated insects all carefully preserved under the clear coat.

I am doing all of the painting using the House of Kolor paint system that starts out with all aluminum being acid etched and alodyne'd followed by self etching epoxy primer. The area getting the kandy apple red then gets a metalic sealer, followed by a gold base coat and four coats of kandy apple red. The rest of the plane gets a base coat of white then the black pearl and gold pearl trim lines. Then the entire airplane gets two coats of clear.

To try and keep the weight down as much as possible the bottom of the plane only got two light coats of white and one coat of clear. There is no primer on any internal parts of the plane with the exception of a few fabricated aluminum bar stock parts. The prop is an 18 pound Catto and I have a very basic VFR panel.

Because of the light weight prop and the lighter weight parallel valve 180 HP O-360 engine I put 5/8" spools between the firewall and the engine mount. Hopefully moving the engine and nose gear forward the 5/8" will help get back some of the baggage allowance I lost due to the the light engine package and all of that heavy paint behind the C/G. Should have weight and balance numbers in a coupleof weeks.

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 6:44 pm

Hahahaha... The Museum of Natural History!!!

That is a RIOT!

Looks great from here!

Keep it up!

CJ

dons · Post by **dons** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:51 am

Yes, a good nickname, frustrating I'm sure, but a good nickname given the circumstances you describe. It looks great.

Post by **Spike** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:56 pm

That red is just plain stunning. I might have to talk to the wife about changing our color choices.

newtech · Post by **newtech** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:53 pm

Spike wrote:That red is just plain stunning. I might have to talk to the wife about changing our color choices.

Our home town Evansville, IN hosts the Frog Follies custom car show each year. My wife and I looked at hundreds of custom painted hot rods when we picked the paint and colors for our plane. http://www.frogfollies.org/ This will give you a little better feel for what the color really looks like.