Paint, paint, and more paint

This week was a short week again. Friday is Labour Day, so we are off for the public holiday. We worked hard for the the four days, however, getting things ready to paint so they could sit and dry over the long weekend. You know, preparation is like 90% of the job when painting, so we were busy. The major work in the DC-3 has been completed, so we had some help from some of the other guys, which was nice. We're in the paint phase, so goals have been set to get things painted and start assembling the airplane. It's looking good!

Chris Kebae, aka "Little Kuku."

Chris has been working on our fiberglass pieces (nose bowl cowls, tip tanks, some fairings, etc) getting them ready for painting.

Nate Killoren beginning to tape the seat tracks so he can paint the floor.

This is the new cargo bulkhead...hope the pilots are skinny! Nah, just kidding, that's where Nate's taped off the front so he could paint the floor in the back.

Who's that nerdy looking guy? Haha! Those are the safety glasses they have in stores for us to use.

Nate getting ready to paint the floor.

And here he is giving it the beautiful gray last coat.

Marco (l) and me (r) getting ready to paint with Jose. Our light broke so we had to get another one...I'm putting the light bulb into it in this picture.

And here we are in the paint booth with the paint particles looking like snow in the picture. At this moment, I was caught with my hands in my pockets.

Sorry its so cloudy. Left to right - Marco on light, Jose on paintgun, and me keeping track of the electrical cord and air hose. Marco and I did get to paint some things, mostly the inside of cowls and doors...things that aren't readily seen.

Chai time! The guys were sitting out watching Matt Near chop up an airplane.


Matt Near from Preferred Air Parts taking apart a Piper Chieftan outside our hangar.


That's a cool chop saw! The national guys were really wondering how they were going to put this airplane back together in the States once they chopped it up and put it in the container...they didn't realize they were just taking it for parts.

Fallen behind...

...on posts, that is. I haven't posted in a while; I'm sorry. Things have been a little crazy around the hangar and home...can you blame it? We live in Nairobi after all. Oh, well.

Things have been going well. We've done a lot of work (including some "two steps forward, one step back" work) and are moving forward slowly but surely. I hope you enjoy the pictures of the progress.

Don't hesitate to leave comments or become a follower. Especially those who regularly visit the blog. Thanks.



Nate Killoren doing some riveting on an aileron.

This is how you look when you're bucking a rivet with your fingertips. Ouch!

Nate working on a flap, replacing some damaged skin.

David Marwa has done an awesome job getting the engine wired up as soon as it was installed. If he worked any faster, the engine would have been running before it was installed on the airplane.

The look. Nate and his flap.

Our new helper on the project, Paul, working on getting the fiberglass tips off the horizontal stabilizer.

Nate had to go and "hangar drive" the DC-3 for a little bit the other day, so I couldn't resist the picture.

Nate and John Mosby (AA Chief Engineer, on left) trying to figure out a stretcher.

And then here's me, trying to figure out what they were trying to figure out in the picture above.

I think David and Kituo were doing some sort of African Traditional dance...

I was deep in thought about cowl flaps. Apparently so deep in thought that I didn't notice Jerry Hurd about to drill a hole in my head.

Jerry and Paul installing the vortex generators on the horizontal stabilizer.

Painting some control surfaces. Left to right is Paul, Adamson, and Joseph. Looks like snow...

Adamson, the "Chief," one of the best painters at AIM AIR.

I caught Jerry with his arm stuck in the wing...I think he was hoping I wouldn't notice.

Here I am, putting the V-brace in.

Caught!

Non aviation...

Well, I'm going to put this here anyway. My wife is giving away some Nariobi Java House coffee and some Kenyan chocolates on our family website. If you're interested, visit the site here.

Make sure you read the rules of the giveaway.

Thanks...

Nathan

An engine, some sheetmetal, and an avionics guy in the tail.

Well, we're halfway through our short week this week and have gotten a lot done. I finished getting the engine installed on the airplane and have been working on getting the induction system installed...next are engine control cables and lubrication hoses. I've also been working on getting the engine cowls cleaned and ready to paint as well as the mod to move the oil check door. I used my angle die grinder for about an hour solid yesterday and my whole arm hurts today...maybe I should space that cleaning out a little bit...

Nate's been working on swapping the left hand elevator trailing edge due to corrosion in the foam. He's going back on with it today.

Waldo and Steve from Radio Base have stepped in while David's on leave and have been doing some good work throughout the fuselage.

It's been a good week and hopefully we'll be able to get a lot more done, even with just two days left.

Check out some pictures...


The tuned induction IO-550-N. Just neat looking, huh?

Frontage.

How about that exhaust?! What a sweet looking setup. So many swirly things all over this engine.

Nate K. working on taking the trailing edge off the elevator...

...and working to get the new one installed.

Who is that? Is that Waldo back in the tail?

Well, it sure is! Waldo's been working on getting some of the navigational/radio equipment installed in the tail.

Test fit of the cowlings. You have to modify the removable cowl on the left side by moving the oil check door to the rear to accomodate the new position of the oil dipstick on the new IO-550-N. You also have to modify the front nose bowls to clear the air filter and alternator.

More frontage. It's pretty snug in there.

Time for an engine!

So this past week was a short one due to Good Friday holiday; this week is short also, owing to Easter Monday. Last week I got the engine out of the crate and built it up according to the Atlantic Aero STC. This STC allows us to put this TCM IO-550-N on our Cessna U206Gs. It really is a fantastic modification, because it allows like 25 more horsepower coming from a much better designed engine. There are reports that on N827DG, we are already burning like 1-2 gallons per hour less than the older IO-520 engines on the rest of the fleet. That fact alone is wonderful news to AIM AIR.
Anyway, I got the engine baffles installed as well as the dry air pump, the prop governor, some drain lines, the CHT and Oil Temp probes, and some other brackets. I got everything ready and later in the afternoon, we started to get the engine ready to install on the airplane. We didn't get very far, as it was getting later and later and we kept having to fight it more and more. You know, six bolts are harder to align than four...
We kept working until we all had run out of energy and had no success. Upon some advice from someone, we decided to let the engine rest for the weekend and perhaps it would settle down into place (we were sitting too high on the isolator mounts). We'll see tomorrow morning.
Here's some pictures of the engine getting ready to go into the airplane. I'm sorry that I don't have many pictures and these aren't the best. My camera screen is broken, so I'm sorta just shooting blind and see how they turn out.


Here's the TCM IO-550-N ready with new baffles, new prop gov'r, etc. Check out that Leading Edge Exhaust System. Cool, huh?!

AIM AIR's Chief Inspector Jim Levander with the new engine ready to go in.

Our new guy, Jerry Hurd, giving it all he has to get some bolts lined up.

Now here's a couple personnel pictures of the people here at AIM AIR. I figured this would help put some faces to some names and stories about our crew here.

Faith - She works in stores and helps us out where she can on the maintenance crew.

David M. - Our Radio Base technician. He's a hard worker and great fun to talk with. This picture is of him tying his shoes...creative.

Pilots in onesies and airplanes on the move...

We've had a lot of maintenance this week. All three Caravans are in and the DC-3 has been in for weeks. Also, a good portion of the 206s are around, too. So the solution to lots of maintenance and not many workers is to recruit some of the pilots to come down and give a hand in the hangar. It was fun to watch, but kudos to the ones who really worked hard.



Amanda Kleist with Jose Reyes, learning about Caravan nose wheels.

And again...

AIM AIR chief pilot John McNeely working on 5Y-XPA.

Jay Mundy working on a first aid kit for the Caravan.

New AIM AIR pilot, Jerry Hurd also working on XPA...he didn't have a onesie on, but I wanted to have him in here, too.

They decided that the DC-3 was ready to move outside this afternoon.

Doesn't really look like its going to get out, huh?

Stuck in the doorway...

And check it out!! She's on the ground! N4790U finally sitting on its own three legs.

Our project space back again with no big airplane sticking its tail in our work.

On the ground again...it's been a long time.