Work started

I want to get the jobs I have planned on 56NE done as soon as possible so I know that it’s ready for our planned trip up the west coast, and also because I want to miss as little of the good flying weather to come as possible. Yesterday was the ideal day to get cracking as we had a high of 24 degrees Celsius with no wind to speak of and with the prospect of 28 degrees as the week progresses, it should be a good few days to get everything done.

The only downside, as I’ve found so many times in the past, is the ruddy insects. I don’t know if it’s something to do with living in a rural area where there are lots of animals, but as soon as you venture onto the grass when the sun comes out, you are instantly plagued by swarms of small flies. They are a total nuisance as they aim all the time for your eyes, ears and mouth and once they have homed-in on you they are very persistent and never give up. I’ve swallowed loads of the little blighters in the time that I’ve lived here.

It got so bad yesterday that I needed to do something and it occurred to me that I should see if the mosquito repellent that was left over from last year would have any effect. I was encouraged as I sprayed it on when I saw that although it had pictures of mosquitos on it, it was actually labelled ‘Insect Repellent’. And I was even more delighted when I found that it actually seemed to work! At last I wasn’t having to constantly swat the damn things away from my eyes and mouth and could concentrate on the job in hand, which yesterday was to swap the wing covers over.

It isn’t too difficult a job but just takes time as you have to be careful not to do any damage to them in the process. The first one went like clockwork but for some reason, although I did the second in exactly the same way, one of the cables that has to be fed through inside the wing managed first to entwine itself around the trailing edge tube and then around the cross member tube, requiring the wing framework to be withdrawn from the cover after its having been carefully inserted on both occasions.

I also replaced a couple of the original bolts that secure the aileron brackets and tensioning cables, after the thread on one stripped, with much better old ones that I’d kept when I refurbished MYRO back in 2009, so that was handy. I eventually finished off in the early evening and was pleased to have got the job over and done with. Here are a couple of shots of the wings with the replacement all-yellow covers on and the yellow and blue ones that I’d taken off ready to be rolled up and stored in my grenier.

So now I’m all ready to get going on the hull jobs. As well as giving it a thorough clean, which will do wonders for it, as 56NE’s radio antenna broke some time ago, I also want to fit MYRO’s, which is nearly new and is going to waste at present. Although I don’t need radio at all for local flying, we will need it for our west coast trip so I want to get my kit in, working and ready. As I type this, the day’s already warming up with a clear blue sky and no wind to speak of. So I’d better think about getting myself organised – and getting my insect repellent spray out again.