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A couple of comments this morning, and a couple of dumb questions:

To Walter Dodson:  What's the best way to fill a new brake system with your
garden sprayer/brake bleeder system?  Do you connect to the wheel cylinders
and fill it backwards?

For any painters out there:  Do anodized aluminum parts need to be etched &
alodyned before painting?  The inspection covers for the elevator control
horn, e.g., appear to be anodized (gold color), but I'm wondering if they
also need alodyning, and if so, if the anodizing should be removed first
with Scotchbrite or something similar.

On cleaning Plexi:  The most important thing is to get the dust off first,
before you start rubbing.  Most dust is silica, which is very hard, so no
matter what cloth or pad you use, if you start rubbing the dust around,
you'll scratch the plexi.  A good pressure wash followed by a gentle
sponging would be a good start.  The Novus products have worked well for me
for ordinary stuff.  For nasty areas, however, like a big scuff or scratch,
wet-sand the area starting with 400 grit, then 600.  Then use a soft
(unstitched) cotton buffing wheel with a buffing compound specifically made
for plastic.  There's a blue compound that's good, available from the
Eastwood Company (P/N 3010, 1-800-345-1178).  You need a fairly light touch,
as it's pretty easy to melt the plexi and make a mess.

   My paint troubles now appear to be solved, but not before having another
headache with PPG's Delta system.  No matter what I did with it, it
fish-eyed like crazy.  The tech reps blaimed contamination of my air system,
but a new filter / dryer, new hoses, and a new spray gun had no effect.  I
switched to Imron, and have had no further problems.  Also bought a forced
air respirator system (including a hood) from Hobbyair, which is very nice.
The $500 investment seemed a good trade-off for not getting poisoned with
isocyanates.  Anyone contemplating using isocyanate-containing paints
(mainly polyurethanes) should check out the various web sites on isocyanate
toxicity (CDC and others).  The paint store guys all say "Naah, no problem .
. . " --- don't believe it.  The charcoal-canister masks won't cut it,
because the isocyanates are absorbed through the skin and particularly
through your eyes.

Jim Cameron, ES builder

LML website:   http://www.olsusa.com/Users/Mkaye/maillist.html
LML Builders' Bookstore:   http://www.buildersbooks.com/lancair

Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.