4th week of June 2004

Article by Mike Whaley

The last part of June got busy as we got to the point that we had to get the airframe cleaned up and ready to roll to Oshkosh.
Barrett added some additional reinforcements to the inside of the side panels, using special adhesives to bond the aluminum braces to the inside of the aluminum side panels without marring the outside surface with rivets. We also tweaked the fit of the top panels so that they would clear the cabane attach points.

We also fitted the three separate panels to the instrument panel. It’s starting to feel more like a real live airplane now! (Should we decide to alter the layout of the instruments later, this will be quite simple… our in-house waterjet cutter can quickly cut a perfect panel based on a CAD drawing.) We will offer these panels to builders, either with or without instrument and mounting holes cut out (we’ve actually been offering this service for a long time.)

In July, we loaded the plane onto a trailer, covered it with plastic wrap, and hooked it up to Paul’s RV for the long ride up to Oshkosh. It was quite a sight to see! It made it there and back with no problem… the procession did attract quite a bit of attention wherever it went.