This last week has been a productive week with learning l all about window install and finally getting the registration completed for N45HS!

I completely underestimated the bureaucracy involved with registering mine and have a new appreciation for proper ‘chain of custody' and Bill of Sales. I won't go into all details as I'm sure many have traveled similar journeys on their quest to register kits purchased from various owners. In general…be SURE you have a clean BoS from who you buy the kit from, who they bought it from, and then who the factory sold it to! I started my registration process on May 17, 2021, and just this past week, the FAA was finally pleased with all the chain of custody. The issue was compounded by the delay from the FAA in reviewing and providing feedback because they are about 2 months behind. I recently learned that for kits you can submit paperwork via email and not mail everything in (thank you to the very nice Legal Instrument Examiner at the FAA who suggested this route a few weeks ago). I wish they would have told me this about 3 months ago.

One of the last items I need to complete in the KB Stone Aviation factory Home Site was the installation of windows. I collected all my supplies and watched @ZachChase wonderful window tutorials and dove in last weekend. The process was pretty straight forward but I needed to start with the side windows instead of the skylight as I realized when I tried to take off the 15+year protectant on one of them it was baked on and was not removable. I ordered new ones from a local shop and even bought a darker tint for the skylights which I think I'll appreciate. I'll repurpose the old ones for inspection panels in the seat pans. All the other windows (with the exception of my windshield, which needed to be replaced) were fine and installed nicely. As usual with this airplane building, my process and quality improved greatly from the first window to the last but as Zach mentioned in his video…“don't worry about the inside clean Silpruf line as everyone will be looking at your cool avionics”! I sure hope so as I need to go back and lay another bead once I get close to complete. I plan to fly off the plane w/o paint then complete all the touch-up when I paint next Spring. My 2 cents is to buy more than the recommended 20 wing-nut cleco's if you want to install more than one window per day. I only bought 20 and would have liked to have about 10 more. So far, I've only used about 2 tubes of Silpruf but still have the windscreen to install which will probably take nearly one. Maybe I didn't use enough but everything was plenty messy and I was an “over Silprufer” as instructed by Zach.

I'm on track to move the Fuselage to the KB Stone Aviation Hangar site over T-Day break and mount the wings and start rigging this bird. I have the list from the DAR and plan on transition training with @DanDudley sometime over the next 8 weeks to check the insurance box. Everything is coming together nicely and I still anticipate the first taxi before the end of the year!

In addition to all this, a few weeks ago I sold (sale pending) my Cessna R172K 3 Hawk XP to a young local couple who will be hangared right next door. Needless to say…its been a busy last few weeks but now that my plane is pretty much sold, I am super motivated to get N45HS in the air!