7/19/2008
Well, I decided to wrap up the canopy work altogether before removing it for storage. I don't want to have to look down the road to finishing the canopy, so I'm goin' for it.
I started this morning by installing two screws that I forgot about on the canopy. I just noticed these at the end of my last session, and was debating about not installing them. They are there for a reason, so in they go. I back drilled the hole in the side skirt with a #40 bit, then enlarged it to #27 for the screw. I couldn't get a dimple die in there, so I just used the screw to dimple the skin as I installed it.
Then it was on to sealing the rear canopy ribs to the glass with caulking silicone. It goes on a bit gray, but says it will dry black...we'll see.
It looks a bit sloppy in that pic, but I'll clean it up a bit when it cures. Here's an inside shot.
That seal will keep out a draft (hopefully), and set the washers in place if I ever needed to remove a screw for some reason. I had to work from the inside while doing this because I wanted the canopy to be in it's down and locked position for doing this step. HOT!!!
Next it was on to the windscreen fairing. First I laid out the line for the first layer of flox that will effectively seal the front part of the canopy to the skin.
Then I mixed up the West Systems epoxy and cotton flox to a
peanut buttery consistency, and put it in a freezer bag to squeeze it out
evenly.
I needed to work fairly quickly because the epoxy mixture actually gets quite hot during the chemical reaction, and will eventually eat thru the baggy.
Rob came to my rescue again today with a left over roll of Dacron peel-ply to use. He dropped that by the house, and I cut the strips to lay over the flox to start shaping it. Apparently this peel-ply stuff is pretty good at leaving a fairly smooth surface that needs minimal sanding, if any, for the next layer.
I then carefully removed the layer of electricians tape from the skin to keep it from getting stuck under the flox. It came off easily, and nothing was disturbed in the process.
Then I used a spoon to begin shaping the first layer. It doesn't need to be perfect at this point, but it should be close.
The peel-ply is really a neat trick to keeping it all nice and smooth. Minimal sanding is the key.
I took some more electricians tape, and masked off the next layer. The exposed areas on the plexi and skin were sanded using a course grit, 80 or so, emery cloth, then cleaned. Then the second layer was applied. I made this layer just slightly thicker than the first so that it would not run off the sides of the fuselage when applied. I put it on with a spoon to get the rough shape.
Next I removed the front layer of tape, and cleaned any excess outside the tape line, then laid down peel-ply again. I tried it this time with five longer strips, just to see if there is any difference.
And finally, I smoothed over the Dacron with the case for the electricians tape. It can be easily varied to get the proper contour all the way around.
This will sit for several hours, and I'll peel that off to see what I have.
In other news...my engine shipped yesterday! Should be here Tuesday or Wednesday next week...SWEET!!
3.75 hours