EAA Sport Aviation

fuselage could easily be rotated by one per-
son,” he said. “Then I built rotating stands
for both ends of the wings. I used square
channel and mounted it to the wing root
end, and threaded rod to mount it to the
wingtip area. It worked well.”
Sometimes, there’s nothing like
hands-on experience to learn a few key
lessons. After Kevin finished applying
Poly-Tone to the fuselage fabric and Aero-
Thane on the metal portions, Zac began
learning to paint. He used a high volume
low pressure (HVLP) gravity-feed gun
with a standard air compressor. Since he
didn’t have any prior painting experience,
he started practicing on small parts and
then progressed to larger components.
“The most important thing I learned was
how to clean the spray gun really well, and
get the mixture right,” he said. “Otherwise,
you can end up with problems like fisheyes
or runs. Also, it’s important to have a clean
work area. Prior to painting every time, I
swept the floor really well and let the dust
settle for an hour.”
By January 4, 2009, the fuselage and
empennage had received their final top coats
of Daytona white and Santa Fe red. In late
May 2009, the wing restoration began.
According to Zac, they followed recommen-
dations from other Tri-Pacer owners and
installed anti-drumming panels behind the
fuel tanks in each wing. By October, the right
wing was completed, and the left wing was
ready by late February 2010.

SHEET METAL

One of the belly skins was beyond repair, so they fabricated a new one, along with fairings and a few other small, simple parts. They discovered it was difficult to locate engine cowlings in good used condition, and after extensive searching, they flew up to Minnesota to obtain a lower cowling.

“We replaced anything that was in questionable condition and presented a major fabricating challenge, then we acid-etched and Alodine-conversion-coated the bare aluminum components prior to painting with epoxy primer,” Kevin said. “We started painting an enamel finish coat on the belly skins, but after those pieces, we decided that Aero-Thane would be better for most of them.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ZAC WEIDNER

TOP: Zac readies the right wing for covering.

LEFT: The old panel (shown here) received upgraded radios and avionics as part of the restoration.

LO WER LEF T: To help the fabric installation go smoothly, Zac fabricated a rotating stand for the fuselage and both ends of the wings to make all sides easily accessible.