\nMan, I don’t know how some of you guys ever got through building your tanks. This stuff sucks. But I actually got the TE wedge on the rudder done. By the book and by the numbers this time.
\n
![](\"http:\/\/stjohn.openbar.com\/airplane\/images\/8-26-07\/IMG_2445.JPG\")
<\/img>\nThe gray goo from hell oozing out.
\n
![](\"http:\/\/stjohn.openbar.com\/airplane\/images\/8-26-07\/IMG_2446.JPG\")
<\/img>\nMore gray goo. I was smart enough to put a layer of Boelube on the aluminum angle below so I won’t have much trouble with stickage.
\nAs a side project, I’ve decided that I need some practical experience with high-performance vehicles powered by air-cooled pushrod engines that lend themselves well to customization, so I picked up one of these:
\n
![](\"http:\/\/stjohn.openbar.com\/airplane\/images\/8-26-07\/IMG_2449.JPG\")
<\/img>\nThis is a 2000 Buell X1 Lightning, Millennium edition, an American sport bike powered by a heavily modified Harley Davidson 1203cc motor, the one usually found in the Sportster. That black thing on the side with the little screen is my first mod. It’s an Airtech Streamlining airbox, which comes to you as raw, white gelcoat fiberglass and you have to do all the drilling and fitting yourself. I cut the mesh out of a cheap air filter from Kragen to put over the intake hole. Inside is a round UNI filter. The little screen was my first foray into fiberglassing, and it worked well enough that I think I can handle the tips on the empennage. We’ll see tomorrow when the paint is totally dry and the resin has totally cured.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"