[hharney]

Well after spending 10 days in Idaho on assignment and then Thanksgiving week distracted me to the point of not making it to the hanger, I finally made the trip to 4N0 to check on the progress of 2JF. Flew the Twinco down on a beautiful Saturday morning.

The interior is completely gutted. It is really interesting to see all the framework that goes together in this aircraft. I have never been through a complete refirb before so bear with my amazement and report. I found the entire hull in very good shape. No corrosion (could be that spending most of it's life in the southern Idaho dessert helped) except one spot on the main door. Not sure what that's all about? Any way a little treatment of some kind should remedy that issue. I had to remove most of the insulation because my interior tech's left it in place. I pulled it out so that I could inspect what's under that wonderful stuff. All the insulation is Fiberglass (urgh) not my favorite product. I am thinking about removing it all and replacing it with a certified foam product. Anyone use the foam panels before? It looks positive, anything is better than filterglass. The insulation in the headliner was really ratty. It has been dug through so many times that it is to the point of lots of small pieces that really don't work anymore. I will need to do something different here. Maybe the foam.

I have decided to replace all the glass. Once I got into the window panel areas it looks like on the rear windows that it is a combination of screws and rivets that attach the aluminum angle to hold the glass in place. After removing the holding devices that are screwed in, I should be able to remove just some of the riveted holding brackets to release the glass. Shouldn't be too bad but going back in might be another story. We will see, stay tuned. I talked with Great Lakes today about replacement windows and they can ship within about 3 days of order. They are located in Flint, MI so I may just drive over and pick them up and take a tour. I think I will go with the grey tint on all exterior side windows, clear on the windscreen and pilot and co-pilot sides and may look at using grey on the inside and outside of the rear. I will see how dark that is before a final decision is made.

I have ordered the Rosen visors, new style air vents that might require a field approval, FM oil filters to replace the factory screen system, Max Pulse light system for the landing lights (has anyone used this?) it's STC'd, new electric clock (still had the original wind up) because the old one is getting really tired, LED exterior light for under the wing that is battery operated so that you don't have to turn on the master to load up.

I have attached these photos to keep you from getting board of reading my report. Some close ups of the window holding devices and general shots of the hull stripped out.