Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Tail Cone Fairing

 
I continued to work on Section 32 of the build.  Yesterday I installed the brake fluid reservoir and attached the brake lines.  This evening I followed the instructions to go back to Section 12 and install the tail cone fairing.  I began by cutting apart and deburring the edges of the fairing tabs with the Scotch Brite wheel.  There are 8-tabs in total.  After prepping the tabs I laid out the masking tape template for the tail cone.  I put the tape on the edge of the work table.  It has a Formica top so it was easy to attach and remove.  I laid out the dimensions with a  Sharpie and then cut the tape apart with a razor knife and a straight edge.  I then put the tape on the tail cone as instructed.
 
 
The fairings are in 2- sections, an upper and a lower fairing.  I set up a small work table on the driveway and proceeded to cut out the fiberglass fairings.  I marked the fairing scribe lines with a Sharpie so I could see them better.  First the upper section.  I drilled the #30 holes at the inside corners as called out on the drawings.  I used the Unibit to drill the ¾" holes on top at at the rear of the fairing.  I used my Dremel  tool with a cut-off wheel to cut the fiberglass.  It worked like cutting through butter.  I put on my lab coat and wore a breathing mask for the dust.
It didn't take long to cut along all of the lines.  I cut close to the lines and will now use a sanding block to remove the material next to the lines.  So far things are coming along very well.
 
Next I drilled and cut out the lower fairing section.  Again, I cut close to the scribe lines.  I will have to remove the material to the scribe lines with a sanding block.  Using tape I put the upper and lower fairings together and then attached the whole thing to the tail cone.  It all seems to fit really well.  I will need to clean up the edges of the fairings with sand paper and then I can proceed to install the tabs and hook the halves together on a more permanent basis.