Structural and Cosmetic Fiberglass Work Tedious
Posted: Thu May 25, 2023 3:35 pm
Putting in the time but the progress seems very slow.
I'd like to get the cowling to the final configuration and clamped in place before I finish screwing down the top of the windscreen to the butt ribs and the L-bracket at the rear of the cockpit. So I'm auto-body puttying the extensions to the cowl cheeks and ears to get a nice smooth final finish. I'm also making patterns in thin fiberglass laminate sheets to optimize ("pretty-up") the somewhat ragged holes I made in the cowl attempting to get a good cowl/windscreen-prop clearance fit.
The pix shows the port-side cheek extension with the auto-body putty (micro-balloons) prior to finish sanding. It also shows the oversized hole in the cowl for the carb/air-filter along with the fiberglass pattern that will be glassed-into the inside of the cowl. I'll than add reinforcing glass and finally micro-balloons for finishing. I'll do the same for the two exhaust piping cut-outs. Lots of sanding to shape and to finish smoothness.
I also fabricated a small u-channel bracket to support the USB GPS receiver. I pop-riveted it to the windscreen mount on the starboard-side. From there I can monitor the small blue signal indicator light.
I'd like to get the cowling to the final configuration and clamped in place before I finish screwing down the top of the windscreen to the butt ribs and the L-bracket at the rear of the cockpit. So I'm auto-body puttying the extensions to the cowl cheeks and ears to get a nice smooth final finish. I'm also making patterns in thin fiberglass laminate sheets to optimize ("pretty-up") the somewhat ragged holes I made in the cowl attempting to get a good cowl/windscreen-prop clearance fit.
The pix shows the port-side cheek extension with the auto-body putty (micro-balloons) prior to finish sanding. It also shows the oversized hole in the cowl for the carb/air-filter along with the fiberglass pattern that will be glassed-into the inside of the cowl. I'll than add reinforcing glass and finally micro-balloons for finishing. I'll do the same for the two exhaust piping cut-outs. Lots of sanding to shape and to finish smoothness.
I also fabricated a small u-channel bracket to support the USB GPS receiver. I pop-riveted it to the windscreen mount on the starboard-side. From there I can monitor the small blue signal indicator light.