Brief Description: Initial windscreen fairing work
In an effort to keep this project on track for a first flight this summer, I’ve resorted to mid-week trips to the hangar to get some work done. This evening was focused on preparing the windscreen and canopy for the fairing fabrication. I started the process by removing the electrical tape on the lower edge and adjusting it so that it fully covered the canopy skirts on both sides. Once this was done I began the process of sanding the fuselage-to-windscreen transition for an application of epoxy and flox. In order to ensure complete bonding I was pretty obsessive with my sanding, and while I was working on the transition area I also did the initial sanding on the rest of the fuselage and windscreen. After cleaning thoroughly with denatured alcohol I mixed up the first batch of epoxy. Of course there is always something that goes wrong, and in this case it was a malfunctioning pump on the epoxy hardener. Due to the malfunction, the ratio of hardener to resin on the first batch was totally wrong so I discarded that and mixed another batch. (Note to self—too much hardener leads to extremely fast curing…which may generate excessive heat and even smoke).
After tinting the epoxy to a gray color, I added flox to make the final product the consistency of toothpaste and applied it to the structure using a zip lock bag as a makeshift caulking gun. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who could do the job much better (read “neater”) but I think it will serve to fill the void between the fuselage and windscreen and bond the two together. After letting this cure overnight I will plan to start sanding again and will apply the glass and epoxy during my next session.
Fairing area taped off with initial sanding complete
