Tackled the repair of the cockpit wall cracks today.

After a bit of head scratching I decided to cut out the cracked section and made a backing strip out of 2 mm plywood, the back edges of which were feathered to avoid stress risers.

The size of the backing strip was determined after making a cardboard template to ensure the actual plywood strip could be inserted and supported properly.

The cut out strips will be glued on tomorrow after the backing strp epoxy/flock mix has cured.

Next came the larger crack repair at the back seat floor.

The backing plate was prepared as for the front seat crack.

Here the backing plate has been inserted and tensioned to hold it against the cockpit wall until the epoxy/flock mix is cured.

Tomorrow the cut out section will be glued onto the backing plate, same as for the front seat wall.

Laurie phoned just as I was finishing this work. He’ll be back in action next Tuesday when we should be able to start rolling on the first epoxy filler coat onto the fuselage and tail feathers. It’ll be great to continue as a team again.