Windscreen fairing edge

I am very happy with my fairing but I have nothing to compare it too and no experience with longevity. My windscreen is glued on and by itself is plenty strong the fairing is nothing more than airflow distribution and cosmetics. I like the look I have (low profile no big hump at the top) I put 5 layers of electrical tape and butted and sanded to that thickness (5 layers of cloth in total, 4 tape and top BID). the aft edge measures .050 to .055 thickness goes up in thickness in the middle and then back to the 5 layers at the windscreen.

The fairing will flex if pushed on the edge but not at the thick part. I am not worried about having this be a hand hold I can get myself in and out without using the faring for support (and no handle in the roll bar).

So anyone out there with a thin edge, how well has it held up to wind and vibrations? My thickness will build some as I apply several coats of plain resin to seal the holes.

Here are some pictures. I have a couple spots to fill but like the contour and I am ready to start the clear resin to fill pinholes.

Cheers

Bump

How does this look, anyone please!

Looks pretty typical to me. However, I used .042 aluminum so I can not comment on how well it will hold up.

I can't speak to the longevity part, but I'd say you have nothing to worry about. Mine is about the same....yours looks better to be honest. Drive on. Fill any little pin holes, apply some primer or rattle can and keep going! Looks great.

Looks good

I just finished mine a couple of weeks ago. I only used 3 - 4 layers of glass and only overlapped the canopy gap by about 3/8". I only had about a 1/8" gap between the canopy frame and the roll bar. I think it should be plenty strong, we'll see. I was able to feather the glass down to 1-2 layers of electrical tape and the edges came out really nice. I was dreading this job, but like most like most jobs I've dreaded on this project, it wasn't too bad at all. I really recommend using the Dura-Block sanding blocks and self-adhesive sand paper. It really helped with contouring this.

Pictures:

Same here

I did mine essentially the same way and after you are done it will be pretty sturdy. I use mine to climb in and out (I haven't installed the handles and it doesn't budge.

Pressing On

Thank you for the feed back, I am pressing on. I will fill the holes and prime then let the painter get it perfect. I just want to get as close as I can for him.

Cheers

Looks Great Mike

Very nice job Mike.

I've been kind of a broken record on this topic/question, but, here it is again. Did you consider not having any fairing over the canopy?

Brent, how is yours built to allow leaning on it?

Not for me

dbuds2 said:

Very nice job Mike.

I've been kind of a broken record on this topic/question, but, here it is again. Did you consider not having any fairing over the canopy?

Brent, how is yours built to allow leaning on it?

Click to expand...

Bud,

It was not a consideration for me since the gap between my canopy and roll bar made this prohibitive. I have a divergence between the, the roll bar and round part of the canopy frame, they fad away from each other. I did not feel it was that big a deal until I started to lay out the fairing. Also when I fit the rear part of the canopy after the big cut I adjusted it forward for a better fit at the rear and made another cut because I was not happy with the first one, this left an even larger gap between the Plexiglass halves.

I think it could be done if you get everything exact but I am getting what I want and my faring is very low profile and there is not much of a hump over the top which is what I was trying to avoid. The width of the fairing is eider than I would want, but I made the Sika fillet so fat at the roll bar I wanted this covered.

It took me several month to make progress on the canopy skirt because I was so intimidated by the unknown of fiberglass work. But with that experience and the many who help on this site the fairing and the cowling have been going well. I still have to do my tips for all the control surfaces still, I did not do any as I went along since I was an intimidated newbie!

Proof that with education and some experience you can prevail, of course the things may just fall apart in a few years but I will deal with that then if it happens.

Cheers

dbuds2 said:

Very nice job Mike.

I've been kind of a broken record on this topic/question, but, here it is again. Did you consider not having any fairing over the canopy?

Brent, how is yours built to allow leaning on it?

Click to expand...

Bud,
I used 3 layers of glass on mine because I have an interesting transition with my sloped windshield so I needed it to be strong. I dyed the resin black, it's not carbon. I also did a lot of filling with micro to get it smooth - it was kind of wavey initially.

You can see how I did it here and move through the various pages (17) of entries.

http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_log.php?user=owens&project=236&category=3383&log=111938&row=46