All this paint stripping got me thinking: how much smoke really comes off the paint in the event of a fire? I've heard rumors that it creates thick, acrid, toxic smoke and can really make a life-or-death difference in the outcome from an in-flight fire. That was enough for me to take it seriously and strip it off. But, the engineer in me wanted to see exactly how much smoke comes off of this in a fire. So, I grabbed a scrap piece of aluminum that had been scratched beyond usability while installing the rear floor pans (remember my method for inserting them?). I had a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with this particular piece of aluminum, so I was happy to spray it with some Rustoleum Hammered Black and take the torch to it. Here's what I saw:
It actually didn't smoke nearly as much as I thought it would! And the smoke didn't really have too much of an acrid or toxic smell. Not that I'd intentionally breathe the stuff, but it was a bit of a relief that it didn't blow up into a thick plume of nasty smoke or anything. Good data point, I guess. I still went through with stripping the paint off the firewall though, because it can't possibly hurt.
Once the firewall was stripped, I was able to mask everything again properly and spray another coat of paint in the areas that needed it. I went through the predicted two cans and left it to dry. Now... on to Section 39!
Whoa whoa whoa, Section 39, you say? What happened to 36-38? Well, I wanted to get started on the brake lines (36) but before I could do that, I wanted to make sure there would be clearance for the parking brake valve to go under (or at least near) the elevator control linkages, which are assembled in section 39. Additionally, section 39 is the first part I can actually work on and not need to be inside the fuselage, where the paint is still drying. So, off to make some aluminum control rods and brackets:
The F-1089 Elevator Pushrod
In total, I made three pushrods today: the F-1089 pictured above, the F-1090 mid-fuse pushrod, and the F-1091 pushrod that goes in the tailcone (plans in section 11 from the emp kit)... over 13 feet of pushrod in total! The next step was to final-drill and assemble the F-1063 Elevator Idler Arm, which unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of. It was a fairly straightforward piece to assemble. After that, I drilled the control sticks, which went fairly well too:
Drilling the control stick and pivot base
Not bad! Cruising right along in Section 39. Also, I was able to temporary-install the WD-1010 control column and figure out how much room there will be for the parking brake valve... looks like we'll be good to go for that! Will have to custom-make a mount for it and get it situated, will post pics of that later. Until then, more watching paint dry!