Jun 5 2004 - I needed to wrap up the wheel pant work so that I could start the finish work. I was turned on to these spring loaded doors for tube access by another local builder. They should work much better than just putting a plug into a hole.

Here it is installed aft of the wheel centerline.

Just push in and screw on the valve extension. Pretty cool.

With all the rivet work done, I glassed over the door rivets and the mounting bracket rivets prior to primer prep.

June 10 2004 - The pants finished up and installed. The spring loaded door came out great.

A closeup of the valve door.

On overall view of the pants and fairings in place.

I screwed the intersection fairing to the wheel pant in 3 places - the nose and two in the rear straddling the split. Coming from a sailplane background where all seams are taped, I'll probably tape the intersection fairings onto the leg fairings.

Many have reported problems with countersunk screws holding the pants on, so I'll leave these four pan heads.

The uppers are done as well. I'm still trying to decide how to secure the top or front section.

The bottoms are secure by picking up the two cover screws.

<back home next>