Brief Description: left canopy skirt gap closing try-1
I set out with the intent of closing up the gaps beneath the left skirt and the fuse skin-mostly in the aft area and then some along the bottom edge forward. I spent an hour with my heat gun trying to heat up the area and press the skirt up against the skin with wood block and then hold while it cooled. This would have to be done in many sections bust I could not even get one section to work well. It would look like success at first but then would return to its previous shape. I was feeling like this method wont work for me so after trimming the bottom edge up to vans mark along the flat sode bottom edge, I decided I would try making a bunch of vertival cuts in the skirt where the problem areas are. The plan is to then epoxy/fiberglas these "fingers" down flush and the side bottom straight edge will be just filled with a slurry. The difficulty with the vertical cuts made, is how to press the fingers down and hold them secure while the epoxy dries. I ended up using a tongue depressor wrapped in wax paper and slid in so that some of the fingers will pull inward. I then applied a slurry of epoxy and cabosil to surface. I will let dry and see if they stayed in position or not. If they stay, I will pull the other fingers in line with them and epoxy as well. When they are lined up, I plan to glass the insed for rigidity. This is a lot of work and time since there is a wait time for the epoxy to cure. And trying to come up with a way to keep the area pressed down is difficult. Anyway, lets see if this even works or not.
