I've got a bit of a gap between the aft canopy skirt joint and the bubble. Ideally, I'd like to just put a little caulk type goop there, but want to be absolutely CERTAIN that it's not gonna hurt my precious plexiglass. What's the secret product?
Hi Steve:
It's my understanding that "Lexel" brand of caulking is one product that will bond painted aluminum to plexiglass and be inert to the plexigass. It's available in white and (crystal) clear. It is paintable. Expansion/contraction is
somewhere around 300% of thickness.
Happy building
As others have said, Lexel, which is available at ACE hardware stores, is one option.
Be advised that it does set up fairly fast....well at least to the stage where it forms "buggers"
If you need more working time, which often times you do, use our good old friend Proseal. Mask off with black electrician's tape where you don't what the stuff. I filled up a corner of a ziplock sandwich bag with the stuff and then cut the corner to the diameter that allowed the proper sized "fillet" of goop that I needed. Squeeze the bag and the stuff oozes out. Then I took a squeege and scraped off the excess and created the fillet between the glass and the skirt.
Either material is kind to plexi and equally important, will accept paint.
The paint shop applied proseal to all my plexi edges using a tube like the bakery uses when icing a cake. The proseal color appears to be a darker gray and looks great. My airplane is yellow. I recommend that whatever product you do end up using that you consider a dark color (vs white) as it sets off the joint without attracting too much focus on the joint's imperfections.
Aloha. Greg
