Few Observations

That was a good post answering Horowitz. I have just done a lot of
painting and agree that orange peel is because of paint not flowing out
for lack of solvent. You have to find a balance --- too much solvent
and you get runs; too little solvent and you get orange peel. When you
get it just right --- serendipity! Especially with a good
polyurethane, like PPG. Usually I add just the slightest bit more
reducer than the directions call for.

Another subject: For an A&P,I have been working on an Alon A-2 that is
a maintenance nightmare. All three tanks are leaking and the seeping
header tank has turned the cockpit into a combustion chamber. I
refuse to fly it or even charge the battery because of the fumes, which
the owner admits gave him a headache the last time he flew it.

I am getting ready to restore an old Supercub --- wonderful old bird.
She has wing tanks and a tiny tubular header tank *behind* the cockpit.
Header tanks in front of the pilot mean fires. What happens is the
pilot has a hard landing and a fire erupts. He is stunned by slamming
into the panel -- because he hasn't installed shoulder belts. He gets
out too late because by the time he comes to, the fire and fumes have
caused fatal injuries. I have seen this several times. Be wary of the
header tank, no shoulder belts, and the moose stall. Everybody ought
to know what the moose stall is.

The A&P/IA who signed off this Alon as airworthy the last annual
pencil-whipped the work by slathering ugly pancakes of JB Weld around
the leaky rivets on the wing tanks. Of course the leaking continued.
Also, he didn't realize that the leakiest rivets were hidden on the
tanks' trailing edges and could be reached only by detaching the tanks
from the aircraft, an operation which consumes a half day and a heap of
energy if you do it by yourself. I can't find the thread but once read
where an Ercoupe went down in flames because the header tank leaked
fuel into the engine compartment, causing an in-flight fire. Two
souls, a father and son, were lost in that tragedy.

Slosh and PRC, or whatever sealant is used, are limited to a few years,
especially when the fuel put in the tanks is mogas.

On the subject of pinholes I have found Bob Reed's tips advising the
use of epoxy resin helpful on the refinish job for fiberglas
wheelpants. So even that scowling old buzzard has a few positives.

On the subject of Aircraft Spruce and in fairness to Spruce and Jim
Irwin, the A&P in our chapter who complained he got the wrong steel now
concedes the steel was 4130, although annealed. He got a number from
another member, dialed ACS, and did not see a current catalog, which
would have put him on notice that the 4130 was soft. In addition, I
owe Irwin and Spruce an apology because the Mitchell CHT gauge I bought
from them now works --- I fixed a broken lead and checked the business
end by putting it in a warm oven and ran the temps up, checking it
against an oven thermometer. And no, Irwin did not sic a lawyer on
me.

Irwin ought not to divulge personal information about his customers in
usenet, however.

There are some real characters who fly in to airports. A helicopter
came in to one of our local airports, wanted to refuel with Jet A while
the engine ran and the rotor turned and have somebody climb into the
cockpit with him to show him how to operate his Garmin 430. A
bystander did indeed get in with him and spent 15 minutes showing him
the rudiments of his 430. He flew away without even so much as a
thankyou, said the man who helped him.

I have an ancient Trimble Flightmate GPS which loses more pixels on the
screen every time I fire it up. However, I've noticed that it does
better after it is used a while and this morning it gave a full readout
except at the very bottom of the screen. Now somebody has traded me
an old Garmin 95, which is 5 years newer than the Trimble. I will fly
into an airport and ask somebody to get in and show me how to use it,
while the prop ticks over in the Taylorcraft.

Now, away from usenet and back to the pinholes, using tips gleaned from
the old buzzards Reed and Riley. And with Riley's advice I ordered
some of that Sterling primer he says is so good.

Work keeps you out of trouble. So back to work. Do you suppose
Mattie W. works?