Brief Description: Landing Gear Fairings and Top Cowl
Vans construction manual speaks of using Poly Fiber "Smooth Prime" for getting the pinholes in the fiberglass filled in on the initial working of the fiberglass parts. I bought some a while ago in preperation for using it on the larger pieces of fiberglass.
I wanted to get working the gear legs and the cowling in beginning the process of getting the pinholes filled. I started by removing the peel ply and sanding the areas where I applied the 3/4 oz fiberglass over the rivet heads on the gear fairings. With that done I gave them a good washing and drying and set them aside.
I opened the can of PF Smooth Prime. It is white in color and contains a whole lot of pigment that had collected on the bottom....probably about two inches thick. I had a stick to stir the can as directed.....it took me about an HOUR to get the pigment off the bottom of the can and re-mixed back into the primer......it was like thick drywall mud that I had to break off the bottom but I finally got it done!
I then used a paint brush and spread some on the fairing and used a bondo squeegee to spread the Smooth Prime around on the parts. The Smooth Prime is water based so it cleans up easily. If you look at the cowl test section you will see how the honeycomb diamond shapes that are riddled with pinholes seemed to fill in nicely with the Smooth Primer using the squeegee. I will let them dry overnight and sand....we will see how that does and continue working on the process.
