Epoxy Wipe

The cool thing about using the epoxy wipe method of finishing is you don't have to have a perfect surface to start with.  You do have to have your perfectly desired shape, but the scratches and pin holes are no worry.

I use West and microballoons.  First, lay it on thick.

After 3-4 hours it's ready for the "cheese grater" surform file to knock off the high spots. It's best to get started now.  If you wait overnight the filler will be harder to work with. Keep whittling away until you can can just see the glass start to appear, now stop.  Come back tomorrow and start sanding with 36 grit paper. Work on the shape.

When it takes on the desired shape and form, do a last pass with 80 grit paper.  Now, you're done with sanding!

Now it's time for the epoxy wipe.  Use pure West epoxy.  First, used compressed air to thoroughly blow off all the dust out of the pin holes. BTW, some of my "pin holes" are almost 3/8" across!

For the first pass, we used about seven squirts worth.  Squeegee it on, and spread it as thin as you possibly can.  Wait 20-30 minutes and repeat.  The second pass we only used three squirts, for subsequent passes we only needed two. For the underside of the canard, and the inside face of the wheel pants, we gave it four coats.  I may use six for the upper surface.

Click on this photo and you can see how big the pinholes are. They are all perfectly filled.

After we did all this, I installed the brakes. Tomorrow we'll sand the epoxy with 220 grit to ready it for primer. Then the Big Deal - get ready to install the canard!