7/15/2006
I finished drilling the landing gear parts. The holes that have to be drilled from the inside were very difficult for me. I drilled the wear plates partially, then removed them and finished them off on the drill press. This job was really messy in that there were oily metal shavings everywhere. Drilling 4130 gets the prize for least fun part of the kit. It even beats ProSealing fuel tanks.
Having had enough of metal for one day, I went into carpentry mode. I made the plywood floors for doing work in the aft fuselage and made my long overdue easel for hanging drawings.
Having had enough of carpentry to last me for a few months, I dimpled, deburred, etc., the aft upper skin and most of the parts for the forward belly skins. Instead of Alumiprep and Alodine I am now using some stuff called PreKote. It looks like soap in that it foams up but after scrubbing parts with a ScothBrite pad, a grit forms that feels kind of like Comet. I don't know if this is goodness but the result is a really nice dull finish that looks thoroughly etched.
I dried and then primed all of these parts.