I couldn't help myself. I had to temporarily assemble the tail section now that I've received it from the paint shop. Actually, the horizontal stabilizer is probably on there for good. I'm waiting on some rubber seal for the intersection between the vertical stabilizer and the fuselage before I can mount it permanently. I think I'm going to like the paint scheme.

I'll spare you all the Jerry Springer-like details, but I fired my painter today (9/17/07). The reasons are long and varied, but not really relevant to moving on with the project.

With the previous painter, I was at the shop to help when most of the work was being done. I was around to answer questions and all that stuff.

The arrangement I have with the new painter is more traditional--i.e, he'd really rather I not be around when he's working. That's fine, too, but I needed to be able to show him what I wanted and also establish some common vocabulary in case of any questions. I took this picture and then added a bunch of notes in Photoshop. I printed an 8 x 10 and gave it to the painter with an information sheet.

I took this picture of the small parts that still need paint. I then created a separate narrative telling what I wanted done to each part.

It's pretty amazing how small these Midget Mustangs really are... Or, looking at it from the other end of the prism, how LARGE Chevy Suburbans really are!

This is a wing laying in the back of my brother's Suburban on its way to the new paint shop. I've got the canopy all taped up and ready for paint, too.

I wrapped the control surfaces in paper to protect them on the ride to the paint shop.

The control surfaces along with the wingtips and a few other miscellaneous parts fit easily beneath the wing. I leaned the wing up on the seats which were folded forward. The wing is approximately 8'2" long and the available length in a Suburban is right at 8'. I think if push came to shove, I probably could have squeezed both wings into the Suburban for a single trip to the paint shop. I was loading and unloading by myself, however, so I decided to keep it simple and make two trips.