12 Mar 2023 - 2 hours

I cleaned and primed several parts today, which felt nice to finally have a little bit done. The new spray booth was much nicer to work with, but this time I didn't use the HVLP gun, I just used a spray can of self-etching primer.

I cleaned the parts by scrubbing them with a gray ScotchBrite pad and Bon Ami cleaner. After the parts are cleaned like this, water sheets off and doesn't bead up at all so I think it's a pretty decent prep method that doesn't require any strong chemicals.


I re-primed the VS skeleton parts and also the VS front spar. Then I primed the right HS ribs and also half of the rudder stiffeners. I did half of these parts so I wouldn't get the parts for the left and right sides mixed up. Once I got them primed, I re-labeled them, but that's as far as I got on the day. I am actually to the point where I can start riveting the vertical stabilizer!

I'm also holding off on the rear spars for the HS and VS as I still don't have some brackets (backordered) and there is a service bulletin that just came out for the HS elevator attach points that will require some extra parts. I want to have all those in hand and match drilled before I prime them.