Another day, another glassing session...
The tail cone was lightly sanded with 220 grit after the last spackle application. Glass was applied liberally. I estimate 5-6 layers of 0.56 oz. cloth. I estimate due to how you have to apply it. With all the corners and curves you have to apply small pieces rather than single sheets. As it will not be taking much load, I think it will be sufficient. I'll give this a few days to cure out before I even consider touching it. I've got plenty to do on the wheel wells to occupy my time.
H-stabs were glassed as well.
Carbon tow application on the nose area. You can see that I put the tow around the perimeter of the cockpit area. This is all applied simply to add torsional strength. With no back-torque from the motor this seems unnecessary, but with likelihood of nose-overs and how half of the foam forming is missing, this is a necessary addition to give a more robust front-end. 12K carbon tow used here, for those who are interested. I applied some epoxy to the surface and put down the tow. Then, using a stippling technique, I saturated the tow with more epoxy. I followed up with a glove and used my finger to smooth out the tow as much as possible and get any air out of the tow. Air pockets will weaken the tow.
And lastly, fitting of balsa into a wheel well. I'll leave the balsa uncut for now to allow the foam fairing to take shape around it and then sand it flush once completed. The recesses for the struts will also be lined with balsa. Need to decide on how to route the retract wires first. I want to make them able to be swapped out if need be but the spar may prove difficul to do that. I'll probably just lay out servo locations for the flaps and ailerons and route the wires to those bays and cut a notch in the spar.
The tail cone was lightly sanded with 220 grit after the last spackle application. Glass was applied liberally. I estimate 5-6 layers of 0.56 oz. cloth. I estimate due to how you have to apply it. With all the corners and curves you have to apply small pieces rather than single sheets. As it will not be taking much load, I think it will be sufficient. I'll give this a few days to cure out before I even consider touching it. I've got plenty to do on the wheel wells to occupy my time.
H-stabs were glassed as well.
Carbon tow application on the nose area. You can see that I put the tow around the perimeter of the cockpit area. This is all applied simply to add torsional strength. With no back-torque from the motor this seems unnecessary, but with likelihood of nose-overs and how half of the foam forming is missing, this is a necessary addition to give a more robust front-end. 12K carbon tow used here, for those who are interested. I applied some epoxy to the surface and put down the tow. Then, using a stippling technique, I saturated the tow with more epoxy. I followed up with a glove and used my finger to smooth out the tow as much as possible and get any air out of the tow. Air pockets will weaken the tow.
And lastly, fitting of balsa into a wheel well. I'll leave the balsa uncut for now to allow the foam fairing to take shape around it and then sand it flush once completed. The recesses for the struts will also be lined with balsa. Need to decide on how to route the retract wires first. I want to make them able to be swapped out if need be but the spar may prove difficul to do that. I'll probably just lay out servo locations for the flaps and ailerons and route the wires to those bays and cut a notch in the spar.
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