Badland Part 103 Pilots and Builders Forum

Chris says I should get my replacement-replacement lift strut inserts in about a week. Fingers crossed as I've about run out of "little things" to do.

He also says my replacement Polini Prop Nut is on his desk and I told him to ship it with the inserts ... no great rush to install the E-prop.

Looking at low-profile, 64mm mount motorcycle air filters. Amazon has quite a selection, but many of the descriptions/specifications are somewhat lax in giving the id of the mounting gasket or other sizing dimensions. Many of the pictures included make the units seem overly large. I'll try to get by a local (Plano, TX) motorcycle parts shop to take a look at some soon.

I'll be re-shuffling the projects and worktables (luckily on casters) in the hangar shop to just about give me enough space to do a trial 1st mount of the starboard wing. Should be an interesting exercise using the engine hoist.

I've been using a laser rule to verify sweep, dihedral, and washout. I seems to work very well. For zero sweep, I strap the laser along the front spar at the root and make a mark on the shop wall where the laser spots. I then move the laser to the tip of the front spar and adjust the wing fore/aft until the laser spot overlays the spot from the root. For the dihedral I measure trom the bottom of the front spar at the root (noting the distance to the floor) then do the same at the tip, adjusting the shop stands until the measurement is 2.5" higher than at the root. For the washout, I have a 5/8" block that I have taped to the bottom of my 5' level. I place this across the front and rear spars at the tip and adjust the position of the rear spar until the bubble is level.

I sent Chris a deposit on my Oratex quarter-naked covering. Pretty much decided on the Sky Blue/Fokker Red scheme ...

Amazon products too often fail to provide useful dimensions, I've noticed. I've also encountered issues where the picture doesn't truly represent the product. Thankfully their return policy is pretty good, and eaasy enough if you have an Amazon Fresh near you that takes walk-in returns, like we do.

I think that color scheme will look fantastic. Looking forward to seeing it on the plane!

Chris suggested 3rd color trim tape lines at the boarders. I'm thinking 2" white to match the color of my airframe. He also said that he had worked out some patterns for the Oratex and will put those into a PDF file for his builders.

Moving things around in the shop today to gain space (around projects, work-tables, and storage shelving) for fitting the starboard wing. Will ge some pictures later.

I can see why the trim tape lines are a good idea. Between having to be very skilled with scissors and the shrinkage encountered when the heat is applied, I imagine getting a nice neat line could be difficult. Probably not an issue from twenty feet away, but more so up close.

I would make sure the white is opaque enough not to have the other colors bleed through, since they are both on the darker side.

That should look really nice, especially with the white trim. Looking forward to hearing how well you found the Oratex is to work with.