918 May 2005 update

918 May 2005 update 918
May 2005 Update

Almost Finished!

With about 4 weeks to spare and the weather finally shaping up, we finally got the nose painted on Saturday May 21. The masking tape and paper was removed the next day and the results are shown above and at the bottom of the page.

Now what's left before she heads to Brightside (Niles Canyon) is basically some detail work and getting her up to code so she can be certified.

	Black paint applied to the nose for the stripes on Saturday May 7th.

	Silver being applied around the cab windows.

	Don and Guy work on masking the right side the pilot stripes on Saturday May 14th. They quickly learned what I went through doing the other side. Not fun! Other 918 crewmember Jon Vlasak paid us a visit and looks on.

	While I had the black paint out for the pilot stripes I figured I'd better get the letter "F" painted on the nose before I forgot. F is for "front". I guess this could get confusing...

	F

	Masking just removed and the pilot is finally done. Cut levers and air hose will be added later.

	Veteran letter and stripe masker Phil Orth (in the cap) came down to help us out on Saturday May 21st. This was the big day for painting the nose.

	Guy works on masking around the cab windows.

	The scaffold set-up for painting. A little rickety, but it worked!

	Half painted nose...

	Full painted nose.

	Waiting for the paint to dry. We decided to remove the masking the next morning to avoid any mishaps with the paper sticking to the new paint.

I for one did not sleep to well the night before. Couldn't wait to see how this would turn out.
We are quite pleased with the results and will be working on detail stuff and touch-up work for the next few weeks.

Photos and text by Dan Furtado

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