Wendell Folks RV-8 Project - Page 76.

January 5, 2008:  The Saturday afternoon visit to the hangar was during warming temperatures after a number of days that saw record cold temperatures in the Chattanooga area.  The airplane has the elevators, rudder, and flaps removed for final painting.  You can see how much of the airplane is being sanded for the final priming of the entire surface before painting.  The windshield now has what appears to be the final treatment with epoxy filler before painting.

Wendell has been visiting our local friend and builder Rich Nadig, who is nearing completion of his Harmon Rocket (souped-up RV-4).  Rich had installed some "air filler" access doors on his wheel fairings.  Wendell is making the same modifications to his fairings before the paint preparations are done.  I arrived just in time to correct a minor error in this installation before it had to be re-done.   These doors allow air to be added to the main tires without removing the wheel fairings.

The flap fairings have been riveted in place and some epoxy filler has been applied to smooth the transition around them.  The flap push-rod exit hole in the fuselage is just barely visible in this photo.

I took this shot of the flap fairing on the LEFT side from a lower camera angle to better show the flap push-rod exit hole in the lower fuselage skin.

The final picture from this Saturday afternoon visit shows a closer view of the sanded surface of the RIGHT wing.  I cautioned the painter about sanding the rivets "ever-so-lightly" so as not to weaken them.

My RV-9A was in the other back corner of the hangar and covered with dust from the sanding and prep work of Wendell's project.  It will have to be moved out of the hangar and washed soon.  It will probably be left tied-down outside during the actual painting of Wendell's RV-8.  He also talked about wrapping my airplane in plastic and leaving it inside the hangar.  We shall see which plan prevails by next week.   In the mean time, the process of "Tenting" the inside of the hangar with plastic sheeting to create a paint booth is about to begin.