Getting ready for winter

Quite a few tractors drove up and down outside my house yesterday delivering trailer-loads of wood to houses along the road. My next-door neighbour had an enormous load delivered and it reminded me, if I needed reminding, that I really must get my wood-burning stove installed. If I miss doing it this month, the weather is bound to change and I couldn’t face a second winter without it. To top it off, we had a bit of a deluge yesterday evening and I’ve not had as much water come down my chimney before, so that makes the job twice as pressing 😐

So I have to press on and get 56NE’s covers finished and fitted so I can turn my attention to these other things. The wing covers have been ready for their trial fitting for a couple of days, so as more rain is forecast and it’s a bit of a dull, grey day, I decided I’d do it this morning. I tried the left wing cover first and was quite pleasantly surprised by how well it fitted. The covers are OK for length, but I’ve made both of them quite a bit too big in the chord. I should have known because I made them bigger than MYRO’s old covers, which actually fit 56NE’s wings quite well. My option will be to notch the covers where the struts are, which will then allow the front and rear ‘underlaps’ to wrap under the wings, so I’ll think about that later on. Here are a couple of pics showing both of the covers fitted temporarily.

I left them on, actually, as more rain is forecast and they were on quite tightly and won’t blow off even though I’ve not yet fitted elasticated ties to join them on top of the wings. They must work better than MYRO’s old ones, which are getting to be on their last legs and are not at all waterproof now the plastic weave used in their construction is weak and loose. I can tweak them later on when I take them off again. In the meantime I can order some more brass eyelets that I need to finish them off and for the remaining two covers for the central over-wings and the rear fuselage, which I will hopefully be able to get cut and stitched over the next couple of days. The weather forecast is for unsettled weather so it will be a good way to use the time and when they’re done, 56NE will be more or less ready for the winter. Ah, yes, I do want to make some undercarriage covers as well, though but if necessary they can wait a week or so while I deal with the other more urgent matters that I mentioned at the beginning.