Based on comments on the SONEXTALK/SONEXPLANS Yahoo! groups about aiding in inspecting welds during annual and preflight inspections I decided to paint the Tri-Gear Mounts white, which should highlight any cracks. To do this correctly, I needed to removed the powder-coat finish on the parts. I used Mar-Hyde Corp. Mar-Hyde+ Tal-Strip+ II Aircraft Coating Remover and it worked wonderfully. The finished started bubbling in less than 5 minutes. A plastic putty knife was used to scrap the finish off and stubburn places requred the used of a metal brush. Everything was wiped down with MEK and allowed to dry. The now clean parts were primed with Gray primer and the final coat will be applied at a later time. The new holes drilled mounting the main gear mounts were deburred. The holes going into the spar box also needed to be dimpled and countersunk. Most of the parts needed to be pulled out in order to perform this talk. Once done, the parts were re-installed and cleco'd together.
