Slope Soaring homage to 'thenated0g'

bracesport

Legendary member
@thenated0g - look what arrived! :D

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thenated0g

Drinker of coffee, Maker of things
Mentor
very nice. I think i severely over estimated how much the weave would expand on my 2" sleeve. Going to have to do something else. Where did you get that from?
 

bracesport

Legendary member
@thenated0g - to be honest, I do not know - I found it lying around the workshop (I think it is designed to slot together, so I am thinking underfloor or in-wall insulation) - I think it is less dense than the pink foam - seems to hold its shape ok! :D
 
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thenated0g

Drinker of coffee, Maker of things
Mentor
Round the corners? Not sure yet as i just realized i cant do my sleeve material. Probably just knock the very corner off with a light swipe of the sandpaper. Im fine with the angular balsa style look though so may save myself time on this v1 and just cover it as is.
 

bracesport

Legendary member
@thenated0g - is the sleeve too small - I think my CF one will fit - I have been pontificating on the glassing procedure and am leaning towards the vac bag - at the ends where the sleeve is probably too big I am thinking to cut a slot in bottom face, slit the CF and push it into the slot - I need to fire up the vac bag and see how it pulls on the shape, otherwise I guess I will wrap it with film.
 
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thenated0g

Drinker of coffee, Maker of things
Mentor
yeah, i knew that was a possibility, got the largest they sold, but it was only 2". I needed something else from the store, the sleeve was just something i added to see what it was like. I will probably either cut some long strips of fiberglass and wrap them starting at one end up to the other or i will cut 4 long pieces, maybe an inch wide and super77 them to all 4 "corners" and than trace out 4 pieces for the top, bottom, and 2 sides. Still thinking about it. Im not going for a perfect looking fuselage with this build or pretty shinny fiberglass. More going for a complete "working" v1 of the glassrat and than make another one better after.
 

thenated0g

Drinker of coffee, Maker of things
Mentor
my experience with my jart (that i still need to finish) is that (not vacuum bagging) fiberglass to a fuselage can stick just fine, but i did have places where it lifted, especially when i came back and did a second layer of glass over the top. Either way i do it i am going to at least try vacuum bagging it even if its just a light pressure to press it against the foam. no mylar or anything, just put the fuselage in the bag.
 

bracesport

Legendary member
@thenated0g - firstly the braid just fit but the length was not enough with the expansion taking up valuable length - it was impossible to get off so I was committed - I will get some more material or use fibreglass cloth to finish it - on went the epoxy and into the vac bag it went - I did a bit of heat gun work to shrink the loose bits and then decided to tape the bag (not sure why) so we will see what happens! :D

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bracesport

Legendary member
@thenated0g - so out it came from the vacuum bag - actually for a first go it is quite good (nice and straight) - the vacuum bag joins were at the sides and one half (bottom half) has more resin pooled for some reason - the braid works very well (I just needed more length) - I am not sure how to finish raw CF - more research I guess! :D

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bracesport

Legendary member
The 50mm CF braid was a tad tight at 60x44 at the waist, so next time I will adjust the foam blank just a little - and get 2m instead of 1m - also, I will think on getting a better vacuum pump! :D

It was a simple and quick process, so there is an easy path to a better outcome next time! o_O
 
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thenated0g

Drinker of coffee, Maker of things
Mentor
If you wanna just be done, knock of the high spots with some sand paper? I will be in the same situation soon. Or you could go with the sand, filler, sand, filler.

I am out of the epoxy stage on my booby so i have a lot of stuff i can do on it right now so wont get anything done on my rat for a few days probably.
 

thenated0g

Drinker of coffee, Maker of things
Mentor
You did get me thinking though, oh yeah your fuse looks great btw, that i could do what you did and use my sleeve on the back end, which would save me a ton of time as i would just have to do the front manually.
 

bracesport

Legendary member
I realised what happened with the epoxy pooling on one half - the vacuum bag is textured on one side and smooth on the other - this allowed the vacuum to pull better on the textured side and pushed the epoxy into the weave whereas on the smooth side it did not.
 

thenated0g

Drinker of coffee, Maker of things
Mentor
when i am doing my wings i make sure to have some kind of breather cloth (actual breather cloth or paper towers are fine) around ALL sides of the parts, connecting to themselves and to the vacuum port so that air is pulling out from everywhere.