Category: Fuselage

I bought an inexpensive engine hoist at Harbor Freight.  I read quite a bit about hanging the engine and all the problems one might encounter.  Oddly enough, it was very simple to hang.

Everything lined up and it went right on!

I wanted to do a traditional BearHawk paint job, but was warned about dark colors shrinking tapes in the hot AZ sun.  So I scoured the internet for alternative paint schemes that would look nice but not have too much blue.

I started masking the lines for the blue trim.  Took quite a while to get the lines the way I wanted them.

Next came the masking paper.  I started with regular masking paper from Home Depot and wasn’t happy with how thin it was.  So, I went back and got the heavy duty stuff.  Basically the same as what paper grocery bags are made of.

With all the hard work done, the final painting was easy and a bit anticlimactic!

Looks nice!

Back up on wheels, I put the rudder on! The lines matched up!  Yippee!

I finished painting the tail feathers white today.

Here you can see the blue trim paint has been finished.  They’re looking very nice!

Today I started turning it white.  3 coats total, one in the morning, one at night, and the last on the next morning.

The AC unit under the garage door kept the temperature correct even though it was extremely hot outside!

Today I go the whole family out here sanding the PolySpray!

Are you can see the doors and the landing gear have been sprayed and sanded.

My wife Cati was having entirely too much fun sanding!

Tori was our music girl.  She managed the playlist while we slaved away!

Today our engine arrived from Bob Barrows at the shipping yard.  The girls and I  rented a small uHaul to go pick it up.

They might think it’s ugly but I think it’s beautiful!

The First coats of PolySpray are done so now on the the sanding.

Here you can see me sanding the interior ceiling.  The PolySpray makes it easy to see your errors!

First couple of coats of PolySpray on the interior ceiling.

Today we started spraying the first coats of PolySpray.  Like they said, it’s much easier to spray the PolySpray because you can easily see how the coat is going on.  However, you still need to be careful to see that it’s going on wet.

I sprayed the 3 coats of polybrush on the fuselage, turning it each time so the spray was straight down.  The doors and landing gear legs received the same coats.

I mentioned before, but this was tricky to do in the summer heat of Phoenix.  I’d wake up around 4:30AM each morning and spray a coat, then wait until the next morning to do another.