cdeerinck
Well Known Member
If you have ever sat in an RV-8, you know that the inside of the canopy skirts are very visible. The only time you can hope to get them looking nice, is if you do it BEFORE you permanently affix them to the frame.
I wanted to finish them, but I was concerned that painting them before gluing them with Sika to the frame (which is the path I am going down) would likely result in the paint failing. Also, if the paint ever chipped, it would be pink underneath (no idea why Vans opted for pink pre-preg, given that there are many other beautiful options out there). Anyway...
So first, I decided to add some black pigment (Iron Oxide) to the epoxy resin, and apply a coat. Then sand, sand through to the pink, and try another coat.
It looked kind of like this:
I don't have a picture before I skuffed it up, but it was far from nice looking. Pinholes, undulations, all kinds of stuff. You can see them all in the picture. Ok, black REALLY shows imperfections. I was running out of options. The epoxy appliance paint I picked up was like a sheer nightie, and wouldn't hide anything, so this wasn't going to work.
Side note: My lesson learned here is that Dacron does NOT make a good PeelPly substitute. It gets wrinkles and waves that you can't fully iron out, and that goes into the surface. I later switched to Nylon, and it was much better. Also, none of the PeelPly choices that I was aware of will conform to a double compound curve.
Even though my plane won't ever be a show plane, I did want it to look nice, so I decided to splurge on some Patterned Carbon Fiber that I saw at FibreGlast.com that is a honeycomb pattern. They call it "Wasp".
I was talking my plan over with a buddy of mine (I highly recommend always talking over new ideas with someone, even if they aren't an expert, it really helps). The plan was to apply the CF, then apply the PeelPly, let cure, then go back with a clear coat, and sand smooth. But the surface is concave, and if I messed up and went into the Carbon at all, there would be no way to fix it. He suggested I let the weave show with a drier application, as is done in Schemp-Hirth gliders (we are both glider pilots).
So I set out to make two small samples to get my act together before doing a one-way process.
The first one is just applied with a fairly dry covering. Here it is:
It is slow drying resin, so it ran to low spots, and was very uneven. Notice at the top of the picture, that it is very shiny and thick, and at the bottom, it came out right. I didn't care for it much at all, as I knew it would go much worse on a large area.
The second sample was with PeelPly, and it was much more consistent, so I decided to go that route. Here is the sample:
The bummer here is that the surface is very matte, and takes away a lot of the beauty of the CF.
Now you know the saying, "the best laid plans of mice and men", well that seems to always happen to me. If it didn't, I would have a show plane. But just because I can dream of a perfect job, doesn't mean I will get it. So, apply a layer of resin, then down goes the 50" long sheet of CF on one side, then another layer of resin, then the PeelPly. Then I notice the coat between the CF and the PeelPly was way too dry. I try to squeegee the air bubbles, and stipple them away, but not having much luck. I try to lift the PeelPly to add more resin, and it starts to pull strands off the edge of the CF. I am holding part of a 50" piece of resin saturated PeelPly, carbon fibers strands starting to muck up the works, and I am looking at a first class disaster in the making. And the resin is curing. What to do? I put some more resin on, and lay the PeelPly back down.
I get rid of as many air bubbles as possible, and it looks like this:
Now, if you have ever done peel ply, you know each bubble will leave a glossy shiny spot, and everywhere else will have a matte look. In short, it is going to look like garbage. So in desperation, I decide to "invent" a new technique. That means probably only a hundred of people have done this before. I have let the resin set up some, but not long enough to get gluey, maybe 30 minutes, and remove the PeelPly while the cure has a long way to go (I am using West System 207 Clear, not the 205 Fast for this part).
Putting the PeelPly down made sure I didn't have any thick spots, and having let it cure a bit, meant it wasn't going to run. Still, I noticed a few spots with too much, so I just took a small piece of PeelPly, stuck it on the spot, "painted" it down with the brush, and then peeled it up again. The thick resin was picked up perfect! There was hope after all.
After it cured, here is the final result, and if I do say so myself, it looks awesome!
That is flash photography, but the entire piece came out consistent, just like in the middle of the picture. It has an even texture, no pinholes, no undulations, and no PINK!
Tomorrow I trim the edges, then do the area in the back, and then I'm ready to glue it onto the frame.
Now, please understand that I am a fiberglass neanderthal (which you can probably tell from this post). I did some repair work on some Jet Skis many years ago, but I don't have much experience nor even book smarts about many aspects of fiberglass. I am sure the pros will read this post, and laugh there tails off at all of my mistakes, and how I could have done this much easier. And if there is a better way (there must be), I would love to hear it, because that is what this wonderful forum is all about.
But, at least I hope to put some ideas in peoples heads about how to dress the inside of the skirts. Build on!
I wanted to finish them, but I was concerned that painting them before gluing them with Sika to the frame (which is the path I am going down) would likely result in the paint failing. Also, if the paint ever chipped, it would be pink underneath (no idea why Vans opted for pink pre-preg, given that there are many other beautiful options out there). Anyway...
So first, I decided to add some black pigment (Iron Oxide) to the epoxy resin, and apply a coat. Then sand, sand through to the pink, and try another coat.
It looked kind of like this:
I don't have a picture before I skuffed it up, but it was far from nice looking. Pinholes, undulations, all kinds of stuff. You can see them all in the picture. Ok, black REALLY shows imperfections. I was running out of options. The epoxy appliance paint I picked up was like a sheer nightie, and wouldn't hide anything, so this wasn't going to work.
Side note: My lesson learned here is that Dacron does NOT make a good PeelPly substitute. It gets wrinkles and waves that you can't fully iron out, and that goes into the surface. I later switched to Nylon, and it was much better. Also, none of the PeelPly choices that I was aware of will conform to a double compound curve.
Even though my plane won't ever be a show plane, I did want it to look nice, so I decided to splurge on some Patterned Carbon Fiber that I saw at FibreGlast.com that is a honeycomb pattern. They call it "Wasp".
I was talking my plan over with a buddy of mine (I highly recommend always talking over new ideas with someone, even if they aren't an expert, it really helps). The plan was to apply the CF, then apply the PeelPly, let cure, then go back with a clear coat, and sand smooth. But the surface is concave, and if I messed up and went into the Carbon at all, there would be no way to fix it. He suggested I let the weave show with a drier application, as is done in Schemp-Hirth gliders (we are both glider pilots).
So I set out to make two small samples to get my act together before doing a one-way process.
The first one is just applied with a fairly dry covering. Here it is:
It is slow drying resin, so it ran to low spots, and was very uneven. Notice at the top of the picture, that it is very shiny and thick, and at the bottom, it came out right. I didn't care for it much at all, as I knew it would go much worse on a large area.
The second sample was with PeelPly, and it was much more consistent, so I decided to go that route. Here is the sample:
The bummer here is that the surface is very matte, and takes away a lot of the beauty of the CF.
Now you know the saying, "the best laid plans of mice and men", well that seems to always happen to me. If it didn't, I would have a show plane. But just because I can dream of a perfect job, doesn't mean I will get it. So, apply a layer of resin, then down goes the 50" long sheet of CF on one side, then another layer of resin, then the PeelPly. Then I notice the coat between the CF and the PeelPly was way too dry. I try to squeegee the air bubbles, and stipple them away, but not having much luck. I try to lift the PeelPly to add more resin, and it starts to pull strands off the edge of the CF. I am holding part of a 50" piece of resin saturated PeelPly, carbon fibers strands starting to muck up the works, and I am looking at a first class disaster in the making. And the resin is curing. What to do? I put some more resin on, and lay the PeelPly back down.
I get rid of as many air bubbles as possible, and it looks like this:
Now, if you have ever done peel ply, you know each bubble will leave a glossy shiny spot, and everywhere else will have a matte look. In short, it is going to look like garbage. So in desperation, I decide to "invent" a new technique. That means probably only a hundred of people have done this before. I have let the resin set up some, but not long enough to get gluey, maybe 30 minutes, and remove the PeelPly while the cure has a long way to go (I am using West System 207 Clear, not the 205 Fast for this part).
Putting the PeelPly down made sure I didn't have any thick spots, and having let it cure a bit, meant it wasn't going to run. Still, I noticed a few spots with too much, so I just took a small piece of PeelPly, stuck it on the spot, "painted" it down with the brush, and then peeled it up again. The thick resin was picked up perfect! There was hope after all.
After it cured, here is the final result, and if I do say so myself, it looks awesome!
That is flash photography, but the entire piece came out consistent, just like in the middle of the picture. It has an even texture, no pinholes, no undulations, and no PINK!
Tomorrow I trim the edges, then do the area in the back, and then I'm ready to glue it onto the frame.
Now, please understand that I am a fiberglass neanderthal (which you can probably tell from this post). I did some repair work on some Jet Skis many years ago, but I don't have much experience nor even book smarts about many aspects of fiberglass. I am sure the pros will read this post, and laugh there tails off at all of my mistakes, and how I could have done this much easier. And if there is a better way (there must be), I would love to hear it, because that is what this wonderful forum is all about.
But, at least I hope to put some ideas in peoples heads about how to dress the inside of the skirts. Build on!
) or use titanium 