So, as mentioned last time out, I had to order a couple of parts for the elevator. I got an E-606PP to replace the one I fouled up, as well as an extra E-703, which I’ll use to fabricate a riblet to replace the bad bend in the trim tab cutout. There’s not a whole lot I can really do until I get those pieces in. On the other hand, I’ve known for some time that another garage cleanup session was going to be needed before the wing kit comes in. For one thing, I had no storage space for the wing parts; the empennage parts I stored under my workbench in the box they came in, but I’ll need more space for the wings. Plus, things were pretty cluttered in general; some stuff I never really unpacked when I moved in. (a year ago…procrastination, thy name is Philip)
So I decided this would be a good weekend to get this done. I spent a fair amount of time last week trying to work up a good organizational scheme. One of my goals was to not have to go through this same process when I’m to the point of having the entire fuselage together in there, so I spent a fair amount of time working towards that goal. I’m pretty sure I’ve got it covered, though we’ll find out how right I am sometime down the road.
In accordance with my planning, I went to Home Depot Friday night and picked up a 24x48x72 shelving unit and a small cabinet for storing general garage stuff. I also got some caster to put on my workbench; I think it’s going to be invaluable to have it be easily movable once things in the garage start getting more crowded.
I could go on and on about the day, but let’s just boil it down to me spending basically 12 hours straight out there. I put the casters on my workbench, built a second smaller workbench where I’ll permanently mount the bench grinder and bandsaw. There’s plenty of room for those, and I’ll probably add a drill press in the not-too-distant future. I, of course, built the shelf and cabinet, moved a bunch of junk around, figured out a new parking setup for the bikes, etc etc etc. In the end, I didn’t quite get everything I really wanted done, but it’s still vastly better out there. Lots more spare space, so there should be plenty of room to work with the wings.
I do still have some stuff sitting around that I haven’t found good homes for. My parts are supposed to be here Tuesday, so I think I’ll go back out tomorrow and try to wrap up the organization. I know myself, and if I don’t finish this job soon, I never will, and before long it’ll be back to putting stuff in random corners and such.
I didn’t get a before photo this morning, but I did take a shot of the finished product before quitting for the night. First time trying the panoramic feature on my phone; kind of motion blurry, but still a little cool, and much less work than using the real camera and some third-party software to stitch things together. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to pop some Advil, because I hurt in about seven different places right now.
(click the photo to view full-size)
