Although successful in getting all the wing skins primed and cured during the warm temperatures, doing that many large parts at once was a logistical nightmare and just crazy. But Mother Nature waits for nobody, so once again I was a man on a mission trying to beat the weather. Oh to be back in southern
I think my aluminum mistress may have a kinky side … she required suspension bondage during the dimpling process for six of the largest wing skins and again after the skins were primed. Of course, the skins are so large that storing all of them horizontally for drying was simply out of the question. The DOG Aviation procurement department picked up some bungee cords at the nearby Walmart aircraft supply store and hooked them over the rafters and garage door tracks.
The fruit of all the effort … suspended like bats taking a daytime nap, all of the
RV-12’s wing skins drying while hanging from rafters, garage door tracks and drying racks.
Using the C-frame virtually non-stop to beat the aluminum skins into submission (along with myself) while creating thousands of dimples became a painful masochistic ordeal and took its toll on my right arm, neck, back and right elbow in particular. The repetitive process of whacking the C-frame with a mallet virtually non-stop over three long loooooong work sessions got my right arm so sore I was forced to become ambidextrous and finish up the fourth day of dimpling wheeling the mallet with my left arm. What do they say about no pain, no gain … I know! Jan, where’s the bottle of Aleve?
The last five daze have been just that, a daze of pain along with pleasure by way of accomplishment. Feel it prudent to take a few days off to recuperate … perhaps a massage is on the horizon.