My young neighbor came over two weeks ago when I had the garage door open and saw that I was building a plane. He was fascinated and asked if he could help. I said "sure" but I didn't have time to work on it then. Nearly every day since then, he has come over and asked to work on the plane. Each time, I told him that I was too busy. I finally got back into the garage today, and he came running across the street. I put him to work scuffing some aluminum with a Scotchbrite pad and then I wiped them down with MEK Substitute. I handed Jonathan the Napa 7220 self-etching primer that I use on the small parts and he went to town. He was doing an excellent job and then it started to spit blobs of paint. I tried the can and it sprayed fine. I then realized that the XL gloves that I wear are WAY too big for him and his finger was hanging over the button into the spray stream. He adjusted his finger and went back to being the Michaelangelo of spray painting.
Jon and I clecoed the floor stiffeners and spacers into place and then the forward fuselage bottom skin. He was itching to rivet and I was a little unsure (of whether I had everything in place and of his ability to rivet on my fuselage!). We fired up the aircompressor, gave him some ear muffs and a quick tutorial on how to use the gun. We worked out our "code" and the difference in duration between a "hit it" and a "tap." I said a silent prayer that I wouldn't need to buy a new fuselage after letting an eleven year old rivet and climbed under with a bucking bar. I am ecstatic to report that we did not have to drill out any rivets. Jon did a great job!
