Canopy Headliner Installed
It’s a task I’ve put off for a long time, but I finally have a headliner attached to the canopy. I’m super pleased with the results. Although it wasn’t particularly difficult, it was manually-intensive, detailed work and took me most of the day Sunday to complete. First, I had...
Interior Skin Fit
On Monday I began the installation of the skins on the port side of the the fuselage. Like on the starboard side, I started with the interior skins. I found that the holes along the bottom of the skin were drilled differently than the starboard side, and supporting installing...
Color Samples for Instrument Panel
I found an online vendor, Prismatic Powders, that offers powder coat paint in a large variety of colors. My goal is to find a color that will complement the upholstery color, so in this case, something of a dark gray tone. This color will be applied to the throttle...
Front Seat Assembly
During the week I assembled the front seats. These go together pretty easily. There were some improvements made to the design, so the parts I had were a little bit different than what is shown in the KAI – for example, the channels on the left, right and bottom...
Luggage Door and Light
I’ve continued with upholstering the luggage area, it’s getting close to done. I worked on the ceiling pieces as well as the door. I’m not too sure what is the “correct” way to upholster the door, so I’m sharing a few pics of how I decided to do it....
Luggage Compartment Upholstery
I think it will be difficult to install the carpeting in the luggage area after the fuselage side skins are installed, so I’m taking advantage of the easy access I have now before I continue with building the center fuselage. I’m continuing to use the high-density foam insulation from...
New Skill Acquired: Powder Coating
Just before this whole pandemic thing started happening, I had purchased a powder coating gun to experiment with. I knew it would be more work than spray paint, but the resulting finish is nicer and more durable. My first attempt was with the updated bearing plates in my previous...
Interior Kit and Other Arrivals
I received quite a few parts recently – the big ones being the interior upholstery kit and the undercarriage kit. I ordered the upholstery kit mid-September 2019 and it arrived March 2020, so for anyone else planning to buy one, plan for 6 months lead time. It’s made to...