Right Wing Almost Done

9/1/2006

The 1/16 ply i now glued in place. I then feather sanded the trailing edge of the 1/16 ply into the aluminium trailing edge. This sanding was tricky to keep uniformed. I did this with a belt sander, which I have had many years of experience using [thankfully]. Although the best way would have been to use a sharp block plane to lose the bulk, then a large flat sanding block to finish. During this process, for some reason, the first inch and a half of the thin ply came loose. I decided to break the loose pieces off and fill over with Aeropoxy [see pic]. It is a lightweight filler that sands really well.

The underside was coated with clear coat, and I also glued in a permanent ply support 1" x 8" x 1/8" that was part-inserted underneath into the mouth of the alumunium, thus bridging the aluminium to the ply, this won't help if someone stands on it, but it still gives the area a bit more rigidness. The top of the wing walk was finish sanded. The Aeropoxy filler on the trailing edge is now solid, flat, and blended everything in well, but it still looks butt ugly. Oh well, it's going to get covered with fabric anyways. A second clear coat was applied to the underside, then the first top coat applied to the upper.

Tomorrow I will give the upper a final top coat after flatting it down lightly with a sanding block, hang it on the wall, then have a cold beer and reflect on the past few months!

I am almost there...one whole wing!