Primed and ready

Sunday 24th August 2008. 9hr 15m

Etched main wing ribs and aft spars and doublers and primed them all.

What a long day. Fortunately, it was the first genuine summer's day in Dublin since June. The rest of the summer has been a complete wash-out, for the second year in a row. It makes you wonder whether there will be enough flying weather to justify owning a plane.

I switched back and forwards between the etching parts and priming them. The sunshine was very helpful in drying the parts quickly. On the other hand, when refilling the paint hopper on the gun, the paint was extremely slow to pass through the 125micron strainer I was using. This may be an indication that the paint was too thick but I did not want to over-thin it. On the emp, I felt the paint was too thin by the time it got to the recommended viscosity as measured with a Dupont viscosity cup. this time, I decided to just 'wing' it.

Each of the two coats of primer is itself a two step process, as parts need to be turned to get at the other side. With the spray booth, I can hang quite a lot of parts and avoid having to turn them. Fortunately, the primer dries in about 10-15 minutes (noticeably longer at lower temperatures, as I noticed when evening drew on and the light faded)

As the day wore on, the last parts got etched so I was sitting around waiting for parts to dry so that I could shoot more primer. By that time, I was glad of a chance to just sit in the shop and read ahead through the manual.