DATE: 05-16-25 – TIME: 3:58 – 4:23 ~ 0:30
Well, I have the orchard tamed and now just settling in to spray and mow until harvest time around the end of June so I can get back to building the Zenith.
I decided that I would start by prepping every part that I am going to be priming, essentially every part, and then once they are all prepared I will prime and begin assembly.
My experience with the tail persuaded me to properly deburr all the parts too. I’ve heard comments that it isn’t necessary to get too fussy with the deburring and, based on the fact that I live in middle Tennessee, priming isn’t necessary except for where two metal surfaces meet.
As I already have a gallon of Sherwin P60G2 I bought for the RV-10, and it will expire before I get back to the RV-10, I figured I would use it to prime all of the Zenith components. I also have some rattle cans of Zinc Phosphate primer to use just in case I miss some spots, or have a couple of small pieces to prime. Also, I feel that by the time I’ve masked the area where metals meet, I might as well prime the whole piece as it will be quicker. Lastly, if / when I come to sell the Zenith it may end up near a shore somewhere and at that point it will be important to be primed.
I am not going to log a whole lot of the prep work, just post a couple of pics below. I am using both grey and maroon 3M pads for scuffing and both alcohol and acetone for cleaning. I wish the kit manufacturers would stop using the cheap sticky labels to label parts as they a pain in the neck to remove. They should be using easy peel labels IMHO.
My MO is to deburr the edges and holes, then scuff the surface / side of the piece that does not have the label stuck to it. Then I clean that side with isopropyl alcohol and write the part number onto that surface with a fine blue sharpie. Then I turn the piece over and remove the label and scuff that side.
