Today, Bryan and Caitlyn Reigal, Kevin and I stripped the fabric from number 3. Dave Welles stopped by to help and Ed Funk got us started but was feeling poorly and had to head home.
As the time lapse video above will attest, it didn't take long to get the bulk of the fabric off of the fuselage. A utility knife and a little peeling took care of it easily. Underneath was mostly the metal frame, but in some spots the fabric, or the impression of the fabric remained on the metal framework and we did what we could to scrape it down. Other remnants included old and crumbly bits of tape that wrapped the frame and were underneath the fabric.
We also removed the fabric from the rear control surfaces - the horizontal stabilizer and the elevator (the stabilizer is fixed, the elevator is the moving part) and the rudder.
Between our last visit to the shop, Dave Welles and Shaw Siglin had removed all of the controls - the rudder pedals, cables, control sticks, spoiler actuators and so forth. They also removed the fiberglass nose from the frame.
At this point, the fuselage looks pretty bare and is ready for K&L soaring to come take a look at it and let us know how much the glass bead blasting and restoration of the frame will cost. I haven't noticed much obvious rust or pitting on the frame, so I'm hoping that its years in the hangar have helped to extend #3's life quite a bit.
Next steps for us are to inventory the interior parts and decide what kind of repair, rework, or replacement needs to be done.
More pictures in my Soaring directory: https://picasaweb.google.com/tberry0916/Soaring
More pictures in my Soaring directory: https://picasaweb.google.com/tberry0916/Soaring
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