Trim Servo Cover Continued...

After letting the fiberglass cure over night, I popped it off the mold. Trimmed the edges close with hand shears then took it to the belt/disc sander. Then I covered it with filler and let that cure for several hours. Then the fun began, first I did a rough clean up with a cheese grater and moved on to the 80 grit sanding block and progressively through 120, 220, finishing with 1000 grit paper. The final pic is the part covered in primer ready for paint. Before painting, I'll need to fit it to the servo drilling mounting holes and maybe some sort of weather stripping.

Butt Rib, Windshield and Turtle Deck Brackets

I took a break from the fiberglass work while waiting on some supplies and started working on the remaining butt rib (Left Wing). I needed to get this butt rib fixed in place so I could move on to fitting the windshield bracket. I taped the rib in place with blue painters tape using paint stir sticks as spacers (conveniently 1/8th inch thick), these set up the proper spacing between the butt rib and the first rib in the wing. The skylight spans the cabin and attaches to the butt ribs on each side. Once the butt rib was secured and correctly aligned, I drilled the butt rib standoffs and cleco'd them in place. These will be secured with Hysol and rivets later. I will use lock plates in the butt rib so I will be able to remove them if ever I need to.

The butt rib needed to be set before I could work on the windshield bracket and the turtle deck/skylight bracket because the butt ribs are use to align the other brackets. Once done, I started measuring the windshield bracket to determine what needed to be trimmed from the bracket. After a while I got it to fit correctly. This windshield bracket must fit flush with the butt ribs on either side. So, I laid an angle bracket across the butt ribs and adjusted the windshield bracket so it was perfectly flush with the angle bracket. I drilled and cleco'd the windshield bracket in place.

After finishing with the windshield bracket I moved on to the turtle deck bracket. It needs to be fitted the same way as the windshield bracket, flush with the butt ribs on either side. After trimming to go around cabin frame work, I clamped it into place allowing me to drill for clecos. This was a bit easier because there was less frame work to clear. I still have to clean up the cuts but the rough fit is done.

 I set the turtle deck up on the fuselage to see what I would have to cut to make it fit. This will help in making my template for the acrylic turtle deck. Once I get this in place I can mock up the sides to give me an accurate template used to cut the acrylic.

MOD - Trim Servo Cover

I started attempting to make a trim servo cover out of fiberglass. I cut out and carved a mold out of blue foam some weeks ago and finally got around to trying to fiberglass it. Did some research online about the process. I had to protect the foam from the resin as it would melt it. So, several articles suggested that you cover the foam with plastic wrap (Saran Wrap). I did, and proceeded to layup the fiberglass and resin doing two layers of pretty thick fiberglass weave. Unfortunately, I didn't get enough hardener into the resin on the first layer. It didn't set up well. The second layer I did much better and it did set. However, the first layer allowed some resin to seep through the plastic wrap to the foam melting it.

So, my first attempt melted my mold but, the second layer did set so I think I can use it as the new mold. I also learned that I'll need three good layers of fiberglass to be stiff enough for a cover. This first cover was a little flimsy so I decided to fill it with expanding foam to stiffen it enough to use as a mold. This worked well and after letting it set up over night it is plenty stiff to use as a mold.

Wrapped in plastic, hot glued in place

Hand forming the fiberglass mat before adding resin

First layer of glass and resin

Second layer of glass and resin

Part after curing and cleanup.

Visible air bubbles from incorrect resin mix on 1st layer.

Adding expanding foam, weight to hold it down while the foam expands out the rear

Foam cured, cleaned up ready for round 2...

MOD - Taxi Light/Cam Mount

Finally finished up with the Taxi Cam/Light mount. I finished priming and painting and mounted the new GoPro 8 as well as the AeroLED AeroSun light. The new GoPro Hero 8 Black camera is stabilized and waterproof without a case. Much smaller and lighter than my old Hero 4. It should give me some really good video and will be great when taxiing allowing me to see what's in front of me.

Without the GoPro Mount Attached

With the GoPro Mount and Hero 8 Attached

With the Hero 4 for size comparison

Another size comparison

Firewall Forward...

Received the Saber Manufacturing 4" prop spacer today. Very nice craftsmanship.

MOD - Chin Windows

I spent some time cutting out chin window templates out of fiberboard. Got both cut out and was happy with them. Unfortunately, the two windows were not exactly the same size so I had to cut both of them instead of just one. Anyway, I used the templates to cut out the Lexan sheet. Once they were close in size I finished cutting using the shear. I'll final sand later. Of course, I'll leave the protective film on until final assembly. Next is to drill and install the rivnuts. This will make the windows removable.

 

Taxi Light/GoPro Mount...

Cutout my mount for the Taxi Light and Camera mount. This is about the third go at this. I had to wait for a mount for the GoPro to arrive so I could make room on the bracket for it. Using a previous bracket as the hole template, I transferred the holes to the new bracket, drilled and reamed them. Previously, I had bent the bracket before drilling and cutting to shape. This time I kept the piece flat, drilled, and cut to rough outline. Once I was satisfied, I then bent it to shape.

Then I had to trim and file all the edges to final shape. Once that was done I sanded all the edges smooth. It's ready for primer and paint. I still have to get some new stainless hardware.

Covering a Kitfox with Oratex, Continued

I was back at Terry's hangar this morning. We installed some finishing tapes on the trailing edge of both wings. These were the 2" wide peel and stick tapes that came in his covering package. I did the peel and stick part while Terry followed with the heat gun and felt pad. Terry had already laid down a strip of masking tape to use as a guide line. The tapes went down easy and came out nice. The wings are done.

 

 

 Next, we laid out the rudder and drew the glue lines. He will glue both the rudder and the fabric today and I'll return in the morning to help attach the fabric.

MOD - COM 2

New Adel clamps arrived and I finished the COM 2 tray. All sanded and ready for paint.

GTR 20 Radio Mounted

Com and antenna plugs

View through the access door in the cargo bay