I've been bad about updating the project here, with most of the updates going on facebook, but figured it was time.
Income for my full-time work on the project came to an end in early November 2017, so my work slowed to a drip at that point. Plus, we had essentially a 6 month winter in northern Indiana this year, so it was harder to deal with the cold than in normal years. However, I've been working on it when I can and I'm hopefully just a few weeks away from first flight at this point. Still have access covers and wing root fairing to finish up, and a boatload of paperwork.
I've been taxiing some in the last week and everything is going extremely well, once I got a leaky left brake solved. The engine only has 100 hours since major, but it didn't run much in the last 10 years. So far so good tho. Starts great and runs great.
I obsessed quite a bit about the changes I made to the original Piper paint scheme, and so far I'm very happy with the way it's looking. Every change I came up with is looking exactly like I had hoped. And the Stewart's Santa Fe Red and Daytona White are just awesome. Plus, I couldn't be any happier with what adding the flattener did to the sheen... I'm unusual in that I just don't like glossy airplanes, and the satin finish here is a huge winner for me.
I just painted the red on the rudder and cowl doors a couple days ago, these pix are from right after they were mounted. The general shape of the white on the cowl door, and the size and shape of the radius at the leading edge came out just perfect in my opinion. I'll probably add 'Super Cub' on the cowl door, but for now I'm leaving some details like that undone so I can get completed more quickly. I'm also very happy with the decision to retain the flat top and hopper door... they add a very cool element to the airplane, and the hopper door literally looks like brand new now that it's been stripped and painted.
My brother in California who owns the airplane is gonna let me keep it in Indiana until OSH so I can fly it up there. Then we'll meet there and head west to get it back home for him. I'm sure looking forward to flying this ole girl instead of working on her!
Martt Clupper
Open Door Flying LLC
Warsaw, Indiana
N9460D
1959 PA-18A flat top