Skirt Work

OK, I KNOW I'm way behind on blogging any progress ... or on making any progress for that matter. I finally got my drill press back. And after having to rig up a new chuck key, and scrub off as much rust as possible, the press is usable. So with that said, I attached the skirt ribs to the main skirt housing. I'll post pictures later of how they're mountedfrom the inside. Basically, I borrowed a suggestion from Chris James and drilled/tapped the ribs so they could be bolted in from behind. Here are pictures of the gaps left around the ribs, and how I filled them in with Bondo.

Long past due update

Wow, has it REALLY been that long since I posted anything? Wow, I was almost happily married back then. ;)

Anyway, I now have a little more time on my hands, and have started working on R2 again. I have the inner and outer skins bonded, all skin panels removed and ready to be attached with hinges, and have started working on attaching the skirt. Only hold-up right now is not having access to my drill press. Hope to have that again SOON ...

Miniscule amount of work done ...

Today I wanted to take care of something that only a fellow R2 builder would even notice. I have a set of Gary Weaver's aluminum legs from the last run (I believe). And no, I'm NOT complaining ... I like these legs. The only thing I wanted to fix was the rounded edges (which indicates that the shop didn't grind much off, thus they will be stronger than the ones that were ground down a lot). I was going to use JB Weld, but that stuff would be a PAIN to sand down, unless you caught it at the right time (not soft, but not quite hardened). And since I never know how long I'll have until I'm caled to do something else, I decided to go with Bondo. As you can see, the results are pretty good. I figure if it chips after I'm done building, I'll hit the rough edges with some silver paint and call it weathering. ;)

Day 1

Well, here it is. Many fellow builders' blogs have inspired me (despite the fact that I seem to never have time to actually work on mine). So I'm hoping by starting my own blog, not only will I inspire new builders, but keep myself going. I figure maybe if I know I have a site to update (and possibly others looking at it), I'll have something to push me into continuing on my project. So again, here it is. I've already done some work on my R2, so here are a few pics to catch up.