Painting - Day 3

June 17, 2009

Rapid progress today, and it is REALLY starting to look wonderful!

I decided to leave the panels on for the rest of the painting progress. I didn't want to chance losing, chipping, scratching, or anything else that could happen-happen. Using masking tape and newspaper, prepping the areas to paint was the most time consuming portion.

I decided at this point that I will not paint on the checkerboard pattern in the nose. While arguably it would be as hard as the method I chose, I was concerned that a mistake would mean stripping off everything and starting over-not an option. The brush I had started out with on the can of chrome was cleaned in stripper, and I wiped off the olive-colored area with that brush, forgetting the previous venture, and the paint bubbled and cracked. I pressed on, vowing to fix it later after the photo.

Installing the spinner was straightforward using the pictures on the plans themselves. Just work from the front to the back, as with the panels.

I really wanted to get the lettering completed today, but I made it as far as ONE Double Trouble Two decal. Using black monocote trim, I'm tracing a print-out of emblem. Use VERY small strips of tape to transfer the decals using this method, trust me on that.

The one of the last things wood-wise completed today was installing the exhaust, which was straight forward since the sheet metal kit supplied a guide to follow for the holes.

After bringing the bird inside for the evening, I started working on the decals, starting with using an x-acto knife with a sharp blade and copying a picture i had taken at the Warbirds airshow. This went overall well. Just be sure to use small pieces of tape if you use that method to transfer the decals (like I learned to do!)