Filling in the time waiting for the Wing Kit to ship from Zenith (scheduled for next week), I've been putting in a couple hours at a time over the past few days polishing the various tail parts. Most of my plane will remain polished aluminum with only the fiberglass portions being painted.
For the polishing, I've been using a Porter-Cable polisher (see image 3) with Nuvite Nushine II polishing compounds. Based on the experiences of others, I'm starting out with the Grade F9 cutting polish for 3 to 4 passes to smooth out the raw aluminum surface skin. After that, I will do 1 to 2 passes of Grade C fine cutting polish and put everything on the shelf for now. Once fully assembled, I will use Grade S finishing polish which should make the skin close to a mirror-like surface. So far the elevator and rudder have had 3 of the Grade F9 passes. Tomorrow I start on the stab. My intention is to keep up with the rest of the parts as I assemble them so that after final assembly, the final step will be fairly straightforward.
Rudder before any polishing.
Another look at the rudder after 3 passes with Nushine II Grade F9.
The Porter-Cable Dual Action Polisher - runs kinda fast, but works.
