It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… I got as far as I could on the elevator. My elevator trim tab is missing, on backorder. And one of my elevators side skins is missing. But I was able to make most of the elevator. I did prime the inside mating surfaces. But I am just priming the surfaces that attach to the skin. Even if the priming isn’t necessary because the aluminum is 6061…. I think priming would help to smooth over any tiny burrs… I can’t feel any burrs with my hands. I’m impressed with the quality of the product that sling sends out it is all cut very smoothly. If I do find any burrs or make any myself of course I debur it. But I feel a layer of paint can’t hurt. Sadly I did put eight rivets in too soon. So I had to drill them out. It wasn’t a mistake in the instructions. It was just me reading incorrectly. So I have tried to slow down and do better going forward. I also did the safety wire through the end of the piano hinge for the elevator trim like others have suggested.
Yesterday, I was not able to work on the plane because I had to fly a plane. I did an hour flight South and then I was supposed to come back. I was flying my friends Cirrus SR20. It recently had a new engine put in it. And on the way there the oil pressure raised into the danger zone… The higher the oil pressure went, the higher my heart rate went. The oil pressure steadily increased about 1 psi every 5 minutes so I set myself a mental limit. And said if it exceeded the limit. I was going to land. It exceeded it so I put it down at the nearest airport which of course was not a convenient location. Then we got a rental car and drove 3 hours back home. To make matters more stressful, I had my 7-year-old, in one of the pictures below, flying with me.
But I’m back home now safely I will figure out what was wrong with the plane and I continue to work on the Sling.
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