Organizing and Inventory

I’ve spent a few hours this week unpacking, building workshop infrastructure items, and taking inventory.  I’m almost done adding shelves, racks, and work tables that I’ve made out of leftover building materials.  One large corner rack is enough to store the ailerons, flaps, horizontal tail pieces, and most of the other parts. 

Since Richard had not yet ordered an engine mount I requested one from Mark at Avipro back in September and just now got around to unpacking it.  I was a little bit surprised to see that it had a fifth mounting lug, and I started to wonder if maybe it was actually a mount for the 540.  It turns out that they started adding the fifth leg on the 360 mounts too, so it was the right one.  I should add that I’ve been very pleased with the support that I’ve gotten from Mark, even though I wasn’t the one who wrote him a big check.  I asked him about getting a set of brake pedals for the right side in hopes that I would be able to catch up with him at Bob’s Picnic tomorrow.  It turns out that he wasn’t going to be going to the picnic but was glad to send me some for a small charge.  While I was unpacking I found that Richard had a set already, so I had to call Mark to cancel the request.  Anyone who can put up with that kind of trouble is worthy of respect and gratitude.

While moving the small boxes with hardware from the trailer I spilled a few of the drawers and had a handful of mixed hardware.  I spent some time sorting through all of the drawers and making sure that the labels matched the contents.  I certainly don’t want to buy hardware later that I acutally had in the wrong drawer. 

I’m getting to the point now where I won’t have any excuses not to work on the airplane!  I’ve spent several hours reading Richard’s Log and the Avipro Assembly Manual to try and see where we are going to start.  I have several good starting points in mind and have also made a list of “things to be sure to do.”  Likewise I have a list of “things to buy.” 

Today I also installed a few flourescent light fixtures to help combat the shortening daylight hours.  I’m sure that the guys from Alaska wouldn’t have any sympathy for me there.