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Kurt Haller RV-9A
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Date: 2-3-2017
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Number of Hours: 0.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: More canopy pics from 3 Feb 17
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Two more pics from the almost done windshield fairing. I used the tip in Vans RV-14 fairing video, and tinted the first layer of fiberglass cloth black. The roll-bar fairing (pics in the other 3 Feb entry) looks black because I decided to beef it up with a single layer of carbon fiber cloth. Amazing how much stiffness was added...it will probably hold up to an inadvertant grab by a passenger. (Not to mention the pilot.)
Otherwise, the fairing has the greenish color that West System + fiberglass naturally acquires, with white dry micro patches that filled in low spots from the lay up. I pre-wetted the first layer of cloth only. For subsequent layers, I put the cloth down dry and "stippled" in the epoxy per Vans video. I found this faster than the pre-wetting between plastic sheets, and avoiding the unravelled threads from the edges that are so easy to get when peeling of the plastic from wetted glass. I always finished off a session with a layer of peel ply, wetted out thouroughly as needed with extra resin. I was able to get out every bubble as the layers went down, and if there are any leftover patches of non-lamination, this really isn't a structural part so no worries.
At this point, there are a few places with shallow "craters" on the surface, which I think will fill in with one more skim coat of straight epoxy, worked in with a plastic scraper, then rolled with a nappy roller, per Dan Horton's current BKM. First, I want to clean up the dust and take all the original plastic off the canopy to get an idea of the final visibility. Then a new electrical tape like will go down, with new layers of masking plastic on the clear areas that will allow priming the final surface with something that will ward off the worst UVs (I hope) until final paint.
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Close up of the fairing/windshield line
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Line in the port corner not as crisp--will go away if I decide to round it off.
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