[hharney]

It's back to work, now that I am back. Larry took good care of 2JF while I was out West in mountain country, thanks Larry. Progress is starting to become a meaningful word. It sure seems like it has taken a while but good work takes time. Especially part-timers. But I have some good part-timers. Larry continues to provide security on the grounds. Last week he saw strange foot prints in the snow around the hanger and back yard. Ok, it's time to lock her down! Everyone has a key and the hanger is locked, thanks again Larry.

Yesterday I finished the interior windows, that was really frustrating. Trying to be satisfied with brand new windows and eliminating dust between the outer and inner was grueling. Just about the time I would think it was clean with one last wipe, boom, another streak or too much static and here comes the dust. I tried several types of cleaner, anti-stat, cloths and finally used warm water with just a titch of soap. Yes, finally something that I am satisfied with, not 100% perfect, but acceptable. I was working on installing the two middle and two rear inners. I spent a good 3 hours and then re-did the first attempt window this morning. Now I think I am ok with them. Wow, does it look nice. I am so glad I went with the grey tint. The inners are clear and the outers are grey. The windshield and pilot / co-pilot have the UV/sun control. No reason for the middle and rear because they are under the wing. It costs about 20 to 30% more for the UV control but because I don't plan to do this again for a while I thought I would do the UV control. As indicated in previous posts this feat of installing the windshield was intimidating because of all the advice that everyone offered. Even the windshield manufacturer said that those Skymasters are a bugger. Well, I decided to take the old w/s to the manufacturer, just 120 miles away in Flint, MI, and they made some adjustments to the new one based on what Cessna put in 40 years ago. I can only figure that this little gesture helped because it installed very painlessly. Side windows, not too bad. Door window, pain in the butt. Inner windows, easy but tedious because I wanted it perfect.

The right wing is all back to normal after inspecting all fuel cells and finding a leaky fitting that had to be removed and welded. Fuel is back in the main cells and panels are buttoned up tight. Now the left wing is open, we removed the left auxiliary cell to gain access for a strobe cable to the rear left tail. Thanks again to Larry and Craig for their time they spent removing the tank and sump (big pain) to just satisfy my silly desire for another strobe light. But we started down that road and just couldn't stop. Left side of the brain kinda thing. Well the cable is in and now we have a problem with the fitting on the sump tank that will need repaired. All the wing panels are off on the left side right now and all looks good. Some typical staining around the gauge senders so those will receive new gaskets. I had to straighten up the cork padding strips under the aux tank. GMAS suggested that I just use the same material, it doesn't wear out. He is right, the stuff is like new just needs to be re-attached in a couple spots. Stick it down with some Pliobond (thanks GMAS) and your good to go. We will pressure (carefully) check the tank before it goes back in even though there was no indication of a problem (thanks Jim). What is interesting was finding some notes, in the wing, where the left aux and mains are. One says "Hi you all" written with a marker. Figured it was one shift leaving messages for the next shift. The photo below of the aux tank bay shows the writing. Another interesting bit of info was that on several structural pieces in the cabin and on the wing panels it is stamped M-337. Lots of parts are marked that way, I think 2JF is part O-2. Cool!