The Fullfillment of Perfection

Preparation time for painting took almost one year, and it is dirty work. Thereafter I covered the whole airplane with thin e-glass. I used an epoxy-talcum mixture as filler. With a large putty knife, I squeezed the filler into the tiny holes of the cloth. The stuff is not sprayable, and I wanted to keep down the weight. It was done up to five times and a light sanding was required after each application.

Using polyester filler would be a lot faster, but I did not want to use it due to the shrinking and cracking problem. Working with epoxy is a mess. Unfortunately, I used latex gloves. They are good for biohazard but the small toxic molecules can penetrate through the latex. In final phase I became allergic to epoxy.

The interior of my Falco is according Sequoia’s recommendation. I used blue-grey colour high-quality leather and lightweight anthracite carpet. The instrument panel looks great as well with a dull black turtle deck and glare shield. Right now the interior including the instrument panel is removed to solve some minor problems, pictures of the interior will be available in a few weeks.

After the paint job was completed, I looked for a suitable airport. An appropriate airport was 90 miles away from my home. On most airports around my home working on your own plane is not permitted, even moving the airplane in the hangar is done by airport personnel. There are some former military airports around but there is generally opposition against airports in Germany. Several of them have been closed down.

Land for homes is barely available in Germany and often there is cheaper land available in noisy areas. But after buying homes close to airports people start protesting, and the results are drastic restrictions. On some airports you pay a tremendous landing fee unless you have an appropriate noise certificate that is difficult to obtain with a conventional engine and propeller.