On Monday of this week, my finishing kit arrived. Unfortunately, I was so busy at work, I wasn’t even able to meet them at the airport. I had to send my wife! It wasn’t until today (Friday) that I was able to make it to the airport for the unboxing. Here is the hangar mascot excited for the big unveiling.  

Between the fastback conversion kit, and the multiple items I’ve bought from other sources, there isn’t a whole lot to this kit.

The majority of the box is the canopy and the engine mount.   

I also ordered a set of the seat foam that Van’s provides. A bit pricey for a bit of foam, but this will be far cheaper than the expensive seats from Oregon Aero and the like. I intend to use the plans Van’s includes with the kits, but I will either have my wife put them together (she can sew when properly motivated) or a local auto upholster-er.  I intend it to be two shades, light grey and dark grey with bright orange stitching to match the internal accents I will be doing. The headrest will likely have something embroidered on it. Maybe my name or experimental or the n-number if I ever figure out what that will be. For the time being though, I’m going to wrap them in trash bags and duct tape so that I can test out the cockpit ergonomics. I might even keep that setup until after the first flight. I’m a little vertically challenged, so I want to see if adding any height to the seats will be beneficial before I put final covers on them.

Not too much else to say. Pictures of other includes parts are below.   
  

I received notice that my finishing kit has shipped and should arrive this Friday, September 11th. This is my final “kit” purchase from Van’s although there are many more purchases remaining.

In other news, I’ve completely wasted this long weekend in terms of working on the plane due to a really nasty flu / respiratory infection. I can’t remember the last time I was this sick. Today is the first day I’m starting to feel just a touch better. Nothing is worse than being sick… I hate it! I’m hoping I can make it to the hangar tomorrow but we’ll see.