Finished of covering the centre section and started the rudder. The rudder is the LAST PART to cover! That's it no more fabric covering..... just lots of spraying! .

I have not updated the site much as I am just spraying the many layers of dope on the ailerons and fuselarge. This weekend I sprayed the first layer of silver dope on the fuselarge. The first layer of silver shows up any imperfections. I am quite pleased because there were just a few small places that needed attention.

Slow progress doing lots of smaller jobs to finish covering the fuselarge. Covered three ailerons and started to work on covering the centre section. However I have run out of anti-chafe tape and unable to get any in the UK - so having to order form the USA for just one roll of ant-chafe tape.

Fitted rivets to VS and marked out inspection panels.

Fitting fabric to the left hand side of the fuselarge.

Finished fitting underside fabric and started prep work for side fabric.

Fitted fabric to the underside of the fuselarge between dope layers (and rubbing down) on the wing. Used off cut of fabric from fuse to cover one of the ailerons.

Finished r/h lower wing to silver and started work on the l/h lower wing. Fitted the lower and upper fabric.

Right hand lower wing sprayed with Rand-o-proof .

No progress on the Great Lakes project for a while as I have been away on holiday and visiting family.

I have not updated for a while as I have just been spraying the different coatings required. Two cross coats of Rand-o-proof, three coats of butyrate dope and four coats of Rand-o-fill silver butyrate.

No work on the 'Lakes last night as I was on a business trip to Belfast - work getting in the way!! This evening I started spraying the elevators and horizontal stabilisers. It started off really badly. I was hardly able to get the Rand-o-proof out of the gun. I tried the pressure and gun settings. I really hate spraying, it's something I have never enjoyed doing. Was never pleased with the results on my RV interior. However when I ran out of mixed Rand-o-proof - the mix is 1:1 with Nitrate thinner things suddenly changed. I have concluded the mix had evaporated off and was not a 1:1 mix - something i had noticed when brushing if the (tin) lid was left off for a while. Dave also called and talked me through some of my problems - thanks Dave.

After flying Saturday the weather changes and I am back in the workshop. Still applying tapes - I had thought I had finished all the tapes when I turned over the left hand wing I discovered they had not be applied yet....

This evening fitted fabric inspection panel attachments to L/H upper wing and started making them for R/H upper wing.

This weekend my brother (who helped me collect my Great Lakes from phoenix) came to visit for the first time since the 'Lakes arrived. Saturday the weather was not great so instead of going flying Andy helped me work on the 'Lakes. Sunday the weather looked better butthe forecast was not very good - however Saturday evening after a converstation Andy demonstrated he could splice rope. So suddenly priority shifted to fitting my trim control rope.

Easter Monday and work has progressed well over the easter break, yesterday I covered the R/H upper wing. Today I have to finish a few small jobs on the R/H upper wing and start covering the L/H. In the end I was only able to cover one side of the wing as the temperature dropped too low to continue.

Continued work on the pilots seat, and prepared the top right wing ready for fabric covering!

Finished refurbishing the tail wheel and spring.

I am waiting for my inspector to come and inspect the wings ready for covering, so I started on a few other jobs. One being to clean the tail wheel assembly and other oily and greasy parts. I also started work on replacing the original fuel valve with an Andair fuel valve - they are far better.

I was going flying this weekend but 18022G32KT BKN018 RA changed my plans. So I called David and asked him about pressure testing my fuel tank. Mark who I purchased my Great lakes off had said the tank had been pressure tested, but my inspector said I should test it. I then began to realise I need to be 100% certain there are no leaks before I cover the centre section. Otherwise I could look and feel rather daft!

I was not happy with the (outer) trailing edge of the centre section. So I ordered some stock edge material so I could remake the outer trailing edges.

Riveted on leading edge.

Thanks for all the mails and phone calls.... yes seriously people have wondered what has happened to me and my Great Lakes project as I have not updated the site recently. Thank you for geting in touch. Click above and you will see what i have been up to.......

One really big problem - where to get the material locally to remake the wooden brace rib that cracked. Dave (English Dave to Yahoo group readers) bailed me out of a big problem, he gave me the materials I needed. Saving about four weeks to get hold of them. Thanks Dave.

Continued reassembly of the wing, fitted wing mountings, root rib and compression strut.

Started fitting the ribs back on to the spars. Shipment arrived from Aircraft Spruce, the replacement Odyssey battery for the original Gill.

Time to drill holes in the replacement spars, I need to replace the front and the back spars.

Right Lower Wing - My inspector Barry came over to have a look at my right hand lower wing - we had previously discussed the condition of the rear spar but i was unsure about the front spar. He decided there was a small crack and as the wing was being stripped it was best to replace it.
So I decided to get on with stripping the wing down - not bad progress for three hours work this evening!!!.