18 December 1999

Flying Colors
1790 SW 19^th Ave.
Williston , FL 32696

Re: N81140 repairs and paint

Thanks much for fitting my airplane into your schedule; I’m quite excited about the project. I’m hoping this airplane will win “Best of Show” at the Grumman convention in Laconia New Hampshire in June.

The following items are included with the airplane and I’d like for you to install them:

• Replace dorsal fin

• Replace elevator tips

• Replace main gear root/sump fairings

• Replace wingtip factory nav lens covers

• Replace tail cone

In addition, I’ve also included some non-factory items for installation. These items are common on many Grummans, and will need to be installed either by “looking the other way” or by attempting to get approval via FAA Form 337:

• Exhaust pipe fairing

• Nose strut-to-pant fairing

• Aluminum main gear leg fairings (please contact me for the traditional installation method on these)

I also would like you to do some additional “fixes:

• Do you normally replace the rubber wing root seals? If not, please estimate replacement cost.

• The wingtip landing lights are in the middle of the process of getting installed. Unfortunately, we were not able to finish the work. Please review the cobbled-up job on them and see what you can do to clean it up. At the minimum, I’d like all of those pop rivets replaced with flush rivets, and since the lenses do not fit well, I’d like the areas re-worked and the lenses replaced to be flush with the leading edge of the wingtip. I will contact FletchAir in Houston and get them to send to you two new lens covers.

• The leading edges of the wingtips where they meet the wing are not flush. Please clean that up as required.

• Please contact me with an approximate cost of using plastic to fair-in the sharp bond lines on the fuselage, especially around the NACA ducts on each side and on the outside edges of the side honeycomb.

• Please remove the additional unneeded antenna on the turtledeck (the ugly one) and repair the area as required.

• Please advise of the strips that are mid-span on the wings can be re-installed with screws instead of rivets. There is a rumour that a Service Bulletin may be pending to inspect those areas regularly.

• Check condition of main gear pants and advise; one is cracked.

• The upper cowl on this airplane is U-G-L-Y. I can’t seem to find a suitable replacement. Please advise if you can obtain a new upper cowl, or the time involved in trying to repair this one’s cracks and wear areas.

• Please make the wing walk as thin as practically possible, maybe as small as 3” wide. Also, is it available in alternate colors, such as white?

Please note that no work is immediately needed on the fiberglass nosebowl. That nosebowl is going to be replaced by LoPresti Speed Merchants in Vero Beach as soon as you are completed with your work. In addition, the right side of the lower cowl will have a large NACA duct installed in it (just forward of the battery. After the nosebowl is installed and the cowl work is complete, the airplane will be returned to you for painting. At your option, you might consider not doing any paint work on the cowl or stripe work at all, and perform that work when the airplane is returned to you.

 Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Greg Amy