I took off early
today so I could work on the canopy fiberglass.
The temperature today is 70+ degrees.
It is a great day to fiberglass.
I pushed the fuselage to the center of the garage and pushed the tail
out the garage door. I sanded the canopy
and canopy skirt where the fiberglass will be applied.
I put Mylar
packing tape over the duct tape and then rubbed a thin coat of wax over the
Mylar tape. I used some old mat board to
make some flat pieces to support the fiberglass below the canopy support arms.
I set up the small
work tables and cut the side pieces and the long strips of fiberglass cloth
that will go on top of the upper fuselage.
There are 10-side pieces (5-left side and 5-right side) of
fiberglass. There are 10-long narrow
pieces to be installed on the top of the upper fuselage. I was able to tape the fiberglass down to the
cutting board and using the rotary cutter, prepare the strips for installation.
I preceded to mix
the fiberglass resin and add colorant. I
am coloring the resin black so when it is viewed through the canopy it will be
black. Following the instructions I
brushed a coat of the mixed resin on the foam block, canopy Plexiglas and
aluminum skirt on the right side of the fuselage. I carefully wetted out the first layer of
fiberglass cloth by placing the cloth between 2-sheets of 4 mil plastic
sheeting. Using a small brush I put
resin on the cloth, then using a squeegee I spread the resin through the
cloth. It worked really well. I then removed the upper layer of plastic and
placed the layup on the fuselage. With a
little minor adjusting I was able to move and slide the piece of fiberglass
cloth into place. I then preceded to do
the same thing on the left side.
After the
fiberglass was laid-up on the sides and the top I laid-up a layer of peel-ply
over the whole shroud. After working on
the project for 6-½ hours I cleaned up the messes, put the airplane and
fiberglass supplies away and let the whole thing cure.
