Sanded aileron ends, repaired cracked rudder | 11.28.2020 - 11.30.2020

 Started the night by sanding the aileron ends so that they were smooth and to help with fit in cutout.

Also connected the torque tube to the aileron.

 

Once that was done, I moved on to repairing a crack one of the rudders. I noticed this crack when inspecting the rudder a while back. I don't have a picture of it, but the crack was a pretty small ~5 inch hairline along the edge where the glass extends past the foam edge of the rudder (the front rib, basically). I put this off because I thought that I was going to need to repair the underlying glass and wasn't looking forward to it. I used a scraper to break off the micro-balloon where the crack was to see what needed to be done, and was pleasantly surprised to find that there was no underlying damage or de lamination. It seems like something just flexed that edge too far and cracked the micro-balloon layer on the rudder surface. I removed all the loose micro and beveled the edge to transition the secure micro down to the underlying glass.

Done removing material, needs sanding

 

Once I had removed all the loose micro (and then some more to be sure it was secure to the underlying glass), I sanded the fiberglass and applied fresh micro-balloon to the surface to bring it level with the old finish level.

This will get sanded flush once cured.

On the 30th, I received my G3X engine instrument kit from SteinAir and installed the oil temperature sensor in the oil filter adapter. This needs to be installed prior to the engine getting installed on the firewall again, as there's no room to do it once the engine's installed.

Sensor at center (brass), with safety wire.

I also spread a cabosil/epoxy mixture inside of the wing bolt access holes (top and bottom) on the right wing. The book states to put 1 ply of BID in here, but I talked to Chad and he stated that it's basically impossible and that the cabo is what they do.

Cabo in bolt access hole

That's all for the next 5 days or so. I'm going on a hunting trip, and won't be working on the plane for a bit.
- Jeff