RV-8 canopy skirts

[billdianne]

For people who have built or added new sections to their skirts. How many layups did you use to make it stiff enough? I plan on using 8.9 oz crowsfoot cloth.

[Steve Ashby]

I sliced up the skirt like a pizza, bent the resulting tabs into place and then taped them down to the fuselage. Then, I used one ply of 9 oz. cloth on the top of the skirt to hold everything down.

After everything cured, I flipped the skirt over and filled the cut lines with epoxy and cotton flox. When all of that dried, I sanded the back side smooth and applied three layers of the 9 oz cloth to strengthen everything.

Then, the only thing left was to make the top side smooth with epoxy and microballoons. I am now in the process of filling and sanding to get a nice top surface.

[g zero]

I used 4 layers of 8.7 , West Epoxy , and some Carbon Fiber in the aft lower corner . I can email you photos of the process .
Tom

[billdianne]

G zero

pm sent