Historic Louvre Reproductions at Grand Canyon National Park (in the 4 gables)

Historic Louvre Reproductions for Grand Canyon National Park

Finishing Tip #2: Fly Paper

Double-stick tape makes a great "fly paper" to prevent small parts from taking off when spraying, especially in the stronger slipstream of a spray gun.  Pictured here are the fillets used in both the shoe rail and railing of the Feb. 1, 2009 Stairwell posting.  The double-stick tape is most helpful when spraying the smallest of items such as buttons, plugs, washers, knobs, etc.

Flying Hint #3: Pocket Board

Probably an APP exists for putting the local ATIS on the screen of your cell, but my little pocket board is the next best thing.  Just a small pad secured with binder clips, the pocket board provides a compact, tear-off surface to write down the ATIS, and the other side has two looseleaf binder sleeves to insert local and destination frequencies.  Clipboards, knee boards, yoke boards always seemed distracting, cumbersome and now obviated by glass panels, but for short-hop flying the pocket board works great. And remember:  after listening to the Automatic Terminal Information Service, don't tell the controller that you "have numbers."

Finishing Tip #1: No-Clean Paint "Tray"

Not unusually doing a job right requires more time.   Such is the case with paint finishes where rolling inevitably produces a superior surface texture to brushing, but yet for small jobs setting up and cleaning a roller tray seems daunting.  Instead, just spread out a section of waxed paper, dip the roller slightly into the paint can, and roll out the paint on the waxed paper, adding more as needed.  There you go, a uniformly coated roller ready to use, no tray to clean up and, if you use a foam roller, a tool easier to clean than a brush.