In stiffening the wing tips with dowel rods, I fell victim to the “law of unintended consequences”. In several spots the dowels pulled the thin fiberglass surface in and created a depression. I had this on both tips. I posted my dilemma on VAF and received several suggestions—fill the depressions with micro or cut the dowel back out. Although the depressions were not deep, more filling and sanding just did not sound that much fun. So, I used a hacksaw blade and cut the glass on the sides of the first rod as well as underneath the rod—very slow process. I cut off about 3” on the first one and VIOLA—the depression disappeared. I followed this same process for the other depressions. The tips are still stiff enough. If I were doing this again—I probably would just leave the tips alone. At best, I think ¼” dowel rod with a single layer of glass would be sufficient. Guess that’s why this is called “Experimental”. I did find on Brent Owens site where he cut the rods in 3 sections so as to not distort the curve of the tip. Ok, moving on. I did lightly sand the lower cowl and shoot a coat of sanding primer on it—looks good so far, but may have a couple of spots to work on.
