Once again not a super productive day, but hey, I still got something done. I started with the intent of getting the windshield roll bar fitted, and maybe getting the baggage bulkheads riveted, but first I was eying the paint on the forward floor. Specifically, along the rivet lines we shot recently, the rivet set had somewhat predictably marred up the paint a bit. In the long run this area is going to take a beating no matter what, but in the end I decided I didn’t want to start with the paint looking bad. So I re-removed the baggage bulkhead and panel, gave everything a good cleaning, and did some masking before laying down another coat of the granite texture paint.
One of the reasons I chose this paint was that I figured touch-ups would be easy, since the new texture ought to blend pretty well into the old. If nothing else, it can be shot with very little care since it doesn’t tend to run or anything. The main concern with this stuff is that it oversprays horribly if you’re not careful. This wasn’t so much of an issue shooting inside the fuselage, since it’s kind of self-contained, but this is why I took the time to mask a bunch of stuff:
Later, I decided to invert the fuselage and rig a heat lamp under there, which I’ll leave on all night long. Hopefully this will help the paint cure a little faster – it’s been my experience that this stuff can stay soft for a while. Probably not an obstacle to continuing other work, since I won’t need to sit inside or anything, but I still might drop something if I’m not careful. So now I’ve got what looks like some kind of odd Halloween decoration out in the hangar:
Tomorrow’s a busy night, so I imagine bye the time Tuesday evening rolls around I should be in good shape to get the roll bar and baggage bulkhead installed, and then I can get into the forward skin fitting with gusto.