As I don’t have the facility to hoist the entire body skywards and work on covering I have opted for what PHS (Paul) mentioned was the ‘keep fit’ option ! ie forget gym memberships and riding pushbikes …just nip under and over, nose to tail, under the wings etc to measure and trim the material for covering the full body underside … Then use temporary clamps to hold it in place so that I can get pencil marks for the glue line.

Then work a method for releasing the forward pieces to get those hotmelted in place and slowly work backwards… this method seems to be working a treat !

Had a problem prior to this getting a good ‘hold’ for the glue on the stainless bulkhead .. but, following PHS advice roughed it up using wet and dry, then a thorough cleaning/de greasing then etch prime.

Just need to secure the exhaust duct tail oratex using same method as above.

A nice tricky bit of tape re enforcing the other evening. But good to get another little job out of the way.

Makes a neat finish and looks very secure and hard wearing

Didn’t get a chance to upload these pictures from last month

used part of my large roll of green cow from the brilliant factory in Leeds !

Whilst waiting for a replacement guauge crack on and prep underside for covering also complete leg covering

Decided to try a first fit in situ of the panel which is just as well as I had managed to put the Master cut off switch a fraction too close to the centre panel, forcing a slight re-positioning.

Its now case of picking up the various numbered tail end leads and connecting them both at the ‘sharp end’ (engine CHT, EGT etc) and panel end (terminating at the ‘D’ plugs of the MGL Infinity unit.

I had been waiting for an initial engine run before I completed some elements of covering but with a slight delay on a fuel part I decided to crack on with other covering.

Decided to soften the amount of Cub Yellow oveall and cover the legs in Olive Green. This blends in nicely and I decided to re strip the legs to bare metal to get a good grip on material.

The legs covered nicely with minimal shrinking required.

Connected the power to this neat little unit last night and it lit up like a Christmas Tree which is nice …

Had a few obvious warnings as nothing was connected initially but connected the oil temp cable and it read 14 degrees which it was last night 😉

As it takes a few weeks to get the build file validated I have sent this off now and have put all the relevant papers and notes and sign offs into one folder, hopefully in a logical check sequence for the LAA using their very useful step by step ‘do and don’t’ check list

Got lots of things to be getting on with finishing off ready for engine testing and readiness

Time to get the panels day for fitting in situ

Such a warm day yesterday in Jersey so a good time to get the panel covering finished

Once dried I can trim out the centres and get the dials back in

Have used handshake connectors throughout which should make life easier for in- out checks