This picture is somewhat distorted because the wing tip is so close, but you can see how I used the scallops on the wing as well as on the tail pieces. I wanted the undersides to be mostly dark because we've found that dark airplanes are easily spotted against the sky or clouds. The mostly white topsides are easy spot if I'm flying below someone. Using a 14 foot long paper template I was careful to line up the top of each curve and the tip of each point in a slanting pattern. It took three tries with the large paper rolls, pencil, string, tape measure, and scissors to get a template where the curve, radius, and points of each scallop were the same and also correct for the wing length with curved tips. Then I got to do it all over again for the top of the wing because it's longer with the width of the fuselage.

It's interesting how she's mostly white when seen from the rear but mostly blue from the front.

I joke with fellow pilots that Blue is at least 3 mph faster with her shiny new paint. It sure is good to be flying again after two months of sanding and prepping.

I'll spend the next month or so doing small detail work but she should be finished in time for a trip to Oshkosh in July, 2003.