In this (now biweekly) blog post recounting Sasha’s and Peter’s struggles - Sasha and Peter have help from their magnificent friends yet again, the rudder and VS are finished, and some wing spars are counter-sunk!

Above, Katya demonstrating the uncanny resemblance between our priming outfit and a Breaking Bad cosplay. She took a hand at priming our wing rib parts and seemed to enjoy it!

On another positive note, almost miraculously, no egregious errors seem to have been made in the last two weeks. In this highly successful cast of characters, we were joined by Katya, Jonah, and Kevin - thanks all!

Jonah spent the better part of a day going through and countersinking the wing main spars like a beast. He did not tire, the cutter did not waver, and honor was brought to all families. Look at how meticulous each hole is!

This was all done using the super-special 120 degree #31 countersink absolutely required to match the 3.8 mm rivets that sit flush with the dimpled wing skin.

In other work done, Kevin grinded (ground?) down the aileron bushing plates we were having trouble with and successfully finished those assemblies, displaying them in their finest glory here:

Kevin will unfortunately be moving to LA for work, but hopefully will become a guest on this blog again in the future :) He also helped Peter close the rudder. Philip has noted the need to grind down the rudder fiberglass tip and double-check the alignment on the skin before closing, so we will not dwell on it too deeply. Honestly not sure how the alignment can get twisted, but I’m sure its a possibility.

Finally, we tested our VOR antenna using a cheap-o antenna analyzer we bought on Amazon. Well worth the $75 for the peace of mind, and we got to see the specific dips in the antenna noise signal corresponding to VOR and ILS frequencies at ~113 MHz and ~330 MHz (respectively!).

How are you, gentle readers? We’ve just passed Independence Day - in the Bay Area all official firework shows were cancelled, but this did not stop intrepid (and rich) Bay Area residents from purchasing illegal fireworks and having a blast :) We saw many “shows” around our neighborhood. How about you? See any crazy firework displays? Contemplating the meaning of friendship and the possible moral implications of forcing your friends to work on your plane? Post below!