The brakes are just about ready, I just have to work on the brake covers before I can apply filler to the wheel pants.
Before we mount the canard into the fuselage, I wanted to get as much of the underside finished as possible. When we did the canard layups we applied peel ply to help smooth the surface. For the last six months Pat has been dying to peel if off. Today was his big day.
Once the peel ply is up, I can see that the canard surface really looks good.
Next comes mixing the filler. I used West System epoxy mixed with microballoons. Again, Pat helped a lot.
When a batch is ready, I dump it on the surface, then use a small squeegee to press it in, just to get a decent bond. Then I go back with a 12" drywall knife to pull it as smooth and as uniform as possible. This section here probably had 5 batches applied.
This is what it looks like after the micro filler epoxy has been applied. After it cured about 4 hours I start working it. It's better to start ASAP, rather than waiting a day or two, since the filler hasn't yet developed it's full strength. I start with a curved Stanley Surform file and make lots of dust.
After a while I start to use my two foot sanding board with 36 grit paper. As the job progresses, I like to mark up the surface with a carpenter's pencil. As I sand, it highlight the high spots, so I know where I need to concentrate.
The idea is to keep sanding until the fiberglass is just starting to show through the filler. About two hours after I started, it's looking better better, but I am bushed. I think I laid the wet filler on a little thick, which resulted in extra sanding. I'll try and make it a little thinner when I wort the upper surface.
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