Work Update

We've been working the last few days.  Yesterday Leah and I did a bunch of sanding on both wings.  First we cleaned up the ribs on the left wing.  Then I got out the electric sander and cleaned up the balsa wingtips and the airbrake which still had some stubborn paint on it.  Then we switched out the wings and I did some more cleanup sanding on the right wing.  Eventually we had enough and the atmosphere was getting a little fuzzy with all the dust floating around so we called it a night.

 

If Mary Cowie is reading this that VSA sweatshirt that I bought at the convention is perfect for working in the garage this time of year.

Tonight I finished up a little more sanding on the right wing including (sound familiar?) the balsa wingtip and airbrake.  With that finished I went back to work on the left wing, working on removing the plywood that covers the root rib.  The old wood is really in lousy shape and has to go.  So out came the saw and chisel.  But first I was smart enough to trace a rough outline onto the new Mahogany plywood that I have so I can make a new piece.  Right now it looks something like this:

  

Still need some cleanup work but I have to have something to do tomorrow.  After a short break to watch some TV I went back out to do a little filler work.  I have Poly Fiber SuperFil which is really good stuff.  It's a 2 part epoxy filler and is super light. Something like 3.8 lbs per GALLON.  I mixed up a little bit and smeared it on a few places on the right wing.  The biggest area was on the new plywood.  After my epoxying job the other day held down with 500 bungee cords it was looking OK but not the best.  The main problem was that while there were a couple ribs on the outer edge there was about a 12 inch gap until the next inboard rib and between me not getting the plywood bent quite enough and the bungees maybe squeezing too tight the plywood flattened out a little.  It looked like this once I finished sanding around the edges:

You can't really see the problem in that picture.  So, armed with my bucket of filler, I started slopping it on.  I figure might as well just build it up and then sand it down to the proper shape.  We'll see what it looks like tomorrow.