Once satisfied with my patching, I went ahead with the rest of the wing as I normally do. I was extra careful with the heat gun around the I-Strut, but the end result was satisfactory in my book (picture1). You can see in the first picture that there’s still a small wrinkle in the covering. I was able to remove most of that later but not all of it – I don’t want to overdo it trying to make it perfect as that’s usually when I really mess things up. Once the covering was taught, I sealed it down with an iron leaving what you see in picture2. As I did with the top wing, I added black pin stripping between colors making them “pop” a bit more (picture3).

All this took about 3 ½ hours from the point I started cutting the covering to make the sheet to the time I unplugged the irons. The length of this stage of building never finishes as fast as I anticipate – regardless of how long I do this.

You guys that can cover quickly and end up with quality results I envy you! Not that I am disappointed with the results – I think this is turning out fairly well. The duration is what’s frustrating…

Picture1 – The I-Strut, post patching and shrinking. There’s still a small wrinkle
Picture2 – Completed wing
Picture3 – Added the black trim stripes for that extra “pop”