Canopy Polishing

[RVadmirer]

Well, I did the really stupid today and stood my canopy up in the sun to cure some epoxy. A freak gust blew it over and it is now scratched like he_ _! Has anyone polished out bad scratches and how much can be removed before it needs to be replaced?! I've got all the fine papers and compounds to do the job but worry it'll be too thin and cause problems or I'll make some flat spots.......?

[sprucemoose]

Bummer.

One piece of advice is to get rid of the abrasive papers and pick a Scratch-Off kit. It uses abrasive compounds and foam applicators, not sandpaper, and works a lot better, IMHO. The RVator did a review of it a couple of years ago and gave it favorable review.

Available from Van's and other places.

http://www.vansaircraft.com/cgi-bin/...ct=scratch-off

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by sprucemoose

Bummer.

One piece of advice is to get rid of the abrasive papers and pick a Scratch-Off kit. It uses abrasive compounds and foam applicators, not sandpaper, and works a lot better, IMHO. The RVator did a review of it a couple of years ago and gave it favorable review.

Available from Van's and other places.

http://www.vansaircraft.com/cgi-bin/...ct=scratch-off

I second Jeff's post. Get a scratch off kit.
I have used it a number of times, once to remove a gouge that was about .015" deep. When I was done it was impossible to tell.

Removing material from a curved surface always has a danger of causing a noticeable flat spot...you need to sand an area much larger than what is required to remove the scratches so that you don't make a localized flat spot. The scratch off kit is designed to be able to refinish from the point of wet sanding with 600 grit.
Let us know how it turns out.

[Bob Brown]

I feel for you, on the way back from OSH last year, I took off my top cowling for just a few minutes, wind tipped it and skidded it along in some gravel...paint side down of course. good luck with the canopy, my cowl was scratched through to the glass, so had to repaint it...