Week 298 - 30 July 2008

My oh my, time is sure flying by.  I just checked the records and found out it has been two months since I have posted a progress report.  I must confess, and come clean.  We have worked since the last report, but since it is the applying layers of glass cloth I didn’t feel a report was necessary.  A second possibility also exists, is I am getting too lazy to write that report.

Anyway we did work tonight.  We are done laying the layers of glass cloth now, so We totally sanded the cowls and nacelle extensions.  We tried to skip the gel coat and go straight to priming the parts.  After priming 1 set we decided this was a bad idea so we resanded the parts and applied the gel coat to all the parts.

With that done we had a sandwich while we Bs-ed some more then called it a night.

First off I want to say Happy Anniversary to my wife Denise.  Tomorrow we have been married for 32 years.  I think that is a major accomplishment in today's world. 

Now I am going off on a philosophic tangent for a moment.  The three of us building on the B17 have the same dedication to the project, as the wife and I have had in our marriage.  As you can see this is week 300 of a projected 104 week project and we are still about 26 weeks from completion. (If we worked every week)   To the three of us, this project is NOT a destination, it is a journey.  And what a journey it has been.  We all three have had wonderfully great highs and dreaded terrible lows.  But we have stuck together and are stronger friends for it.

 Well enough of my dribble.  Yes, we did work tonight.  We sanded the cowls & nacelle extensions.  Then we added a glazing putty to help fill all the voids.  Next we sanded again and applied a heavy coat of primmer.  With this done we decided to let them cure completely and do all the same all over again, next week.

Note:  Congratulations Denise and Gary, I have to agree, 32 years is a huge accomplishment.
                                                                                                                              Randy

Week 301      -      20 August 2008

 We worked again tonight.  Like I said last week, tonight was just like last week, only tonight we trimmed off some of the excess base material.  Stay tuned next week to see if we can do three in a row!

Week 302     -     27 August 2008

Hey folks, we made three in a row now.  Tonight was very mentally rewarding as we made great progress on getting those dreaded cowls and nacelle extensions behind us.  Greg’s son Mark, was there to witness the event and lend a helping hand on some sanding and painting chores. 

We started off by putting a new fine tooth ½ wide blade on my band saw then built a quick fixture board  which to clamp the cowls to before cutting on the band saw..  Then we cut the cowls at a total overall length of 3-1/8”.  The cut was smooth and perfect so we cut the other 3 cowls.  Next some sanding and yet another coat of primmer is in order.

Now we turn to the nacelle extensions and cut them to a length of 2-1/4” long.  Next these were sanding and primed.  Now we removed #2 motor and test the fit of the nacelle extensions.  What a great slide over fit.  Next we lightly sanded the cowls and applied a coat of olive drab paint.  Man oh man…..Its hard to keep the smiles off our faces.

Happy, we called it a night.  I wonder if we can get four in a row? 

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