Thursday, May 15, 2008

Front Vent Panel Work, Rewired Solenoid

Today was 100% devoted to reworking recent errors I've made (and possibly staging new ones). The subtitle of this blog does say "misadventures," after all.

First, once again I filed the paint from the inner perimeter of the front vent panel, so that the paint won't chip when I slide this panel over the front vents. I've learned that from past experience.



I tried using the same 3M Very High Bond Tape to keep this panel in place that I use for the dome panels.



Unfortunately, the panel doesn't quite match the curve of the skins it sits on, so even with this tape, about half the points of contact are not even touching. :( This is a temporary solution for two events I have coming up Friday and Saturday. I'm not sure what I will use in the long term. Maybe silicone again, but I need something that can safely press down on the panel without damaging the finish.



I even managed to leave light thumbprints in the clearcoat as I was pressing and holding the corners of the panel for the tape to stick. Will I repaint again? I dunno, I don't really feel like it right about now.

Finally, I wired the solenoid back to the way it used to be before I put those connectors on for quick release. I think they ended up being more trouble than they were worth, and I'm not sure that the connectors have a high enough gauge wire to handle the task anyway.



I spoke with Aircraft Spruce, they claim I should see my replacement voltage adapter in the morning (I'm taking a planned vacation day), so I should have plenty of time before my 3:00pm event to install it and bring my 12-volt citizens (CFSound III, Keycoder, solenoid) back to life. I hope.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any chance that using suture floor wax as a top coat will protect the finish a little more? I use to use it on models to shine them up. It leaves an acrylic layer on your finish. Maybe it would protect your clear coat a little more. I would test it out on some scrap though.

Anonymous said...

Sorry meant Future Floor wax.

Victor Franco said...

Dan,

Thanks for the suggestion. It might be interesting to try on a scrap piece and see how it looks.

-Victor