A relative of Marie’s builds airplane models from scratch. He made one for me. When I’m 90 years old I’d like to be as active as Lawrence.

Here’s the final polish.

Practicing polishing up my yoke covers. These are extra covers. Stripping the paint now to redo the rest. The polishing came out fine though hard to see in the photos.

Before polishing

After polishing.

Just have to wire them up now. Comm/GPS in top and the transponder on the bottom.

The absence of a post hasn’t meant I have stopped working on it. Just no good pictures to put up. I sent my panel and radios down to our Florida avionics shop to install the radios. They will do a much better job than me as they have all the tools to do it right.

The manual says to use AN4-12A bolts for all three rudder hinges. As you can tell from the photo they’re a bit too long. I ended up using two AN4-11A’s and one -10A instead. These allow the shank to exit the bracket on the bottom and enough length to get the right amount of threads showing through the nylon nut.

The parts book does not show the felt washers, but they are referenced in the Stinson Service Manual.

Showing the length is too much. Notice the felt washers to keep dust and dirt out of the bearing.

Showing the proper length with just enough of the bolt exiting the bracket.

All tightened with the felt washers installed.

Starting the installation of the radio, gps, and transponder.

There will be some cutting involved.

They fit great. Just need to get them recovered.