by SheepdogRD » Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:04 pm
After all that concern over whether we ought to get the powder coating or paint the parts ourselves, we bowed to forum advice and went for the powder coat, in black. I'm glad we did; the fuselage is simply beautiful. The lift struts look great in black, too. We're still waiting for some parts, including the seats and the landing gear -- which will also be black -- and I'll pick them up next time I go to the factory. The rest of the parts, like the tailfeathers and the small parts, are white; that's fine, because they'll never be seen. It turns out that it's a pain for the factory to set aside every little piece of a kit for coating in a different color. It costs a lot, and it delays kit delivery. I didn't see any need for causing the pain, and I didn't want the delay, so only the major parts are black.
The picture shows the fuselage on its rotisserie, with the wings behind it on their own rotisseries.
Too late in the process, I realized I could have said "no powder coat" on the rudder pedal system, and sent it out to be chromed. Maybe on the next one . . .
I had the factory leave the doors off our kit completely, though the gas cylinders are still included. I plan to use square aluminum tube to build our doors, much like Keevin Smith did on his red and black beauty. Man, if this turns out looking anywhere near as good as his does, I'll be a happy guy.
Once the kit got here, it took me almost a week to get things organized. Looking back at that, I'd wish I had asked that the box from Aircraft Spruce -- all the fasteners, clevises, turnbuckles, etc. -- be drop shipped directly to me, in advance of the kit. If those parts had been sent early, I could have had them inventoried and up on the pegboard before the kit even got here (I'd have needed an emailed copy of the Kit Pack Bill of Materials, too). As it is, I've been building without taking the time to mount the pegboard and get the parts on it. I guess, before things get messy, I'd better take time out and do the organizing.
Thanks again to those who said, "Take time to enjoy all of it." I'm having such a good time that it seems almost unreal.
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Richard Holtz
Highlander N570L -- Ms. Tonka -- in gestation
If just enough is really good, then too much ought to be perfect.