Today was a good day in the shop. Bob Woolley, beta builder of the Panther sport version, assisted me with fitting the second fuel tank skin. We followed Tony’s instructions and all went very well. The fuel tank skins are all pre-drilled by the CNC shop and pre-bent in house, so it was just a matter of lining it up to eliminate any twist.
The most frustrating thing today was dull drill bits. Nothing worse than a sorry drill bit. Ordered some more tonight along with some closed end blind rivets. The plan is to ream the second tank out tomorrow and drill the fuel flow holes. Hope to have the tanks all sealed by end of the week for leak checking.
Our oldest son, Brett, finished up prepping the press brake for paint today. It works great for the leading edge bends. Our youngest, Luke, painted it for us – it looks great!
Dan worked on the firewall and boot cowl this afternoon. Stainless steel is a real pain to form and drill. Going to really look hard at getting these parts plasma or laser cut. The most exciting part of this afternoon was the start of fitting the canopy.
This will be a process of trim and fit, and stand back and repeat. But a great visual of what the Panther is going to really look like. Liking her more and more…
and at first I thought it was a little offensive. But the more I think about it – he is so right!
To put it in a little different perspective – a quote from Toni Collete:
The better you know yourself, the better your relationship with the rest of the world.
The Panther is waiting….
– Rachel
