Over the last couple weeks I have been working on a way to keep the mice from making my Cessna their new condo. It seems that every couple years I was disposing of another nest built by the pesky rodents. Enough is enough! Time to build some protection for my ship!
Having seen other sheet metal covers for airplane gear legs I thought I would try a similar covering. The main wheels and gear legs don't offer a way into the Cessna 170 so the tail is where the protection was needed. A trip to the local hardware store produced the sheet metal from a type of metal ducting. Each edge has a groove bent into it for attaching back to itself. I purchased six pieces and set about making The Great Wall. Using tin snips I cut off the ends of the ducting that were crimped and flattened out all the pieces. Once clipped together I added some duct tape to keep the top edge from scratching the underside of the airplane. The unit now slides easily under the horizontal and is held closed with some vice grips and a bungee cord. Easy on, easy off. Will it work to keep the mice at bay? Time will tell.
