Tom Martin
Well Known Member
I have done a number of canopy farings in the past and had intended to proceed as normal. In the spirit of learning new techniques I followed Van's videos and plan directions for laying up the canopy glass faring.
This picture shows all the glass pieces cut, as per plans and laid out ready for layup.
The process took a little less then the four hours that they suggested. The only change I made was to add another couple of layers of tape to the windscreen and thus more glass cloth for a bit of a thicker edge then specified. Absolutely nothing wrong with sticking with the plans, I just like a bit thicker edge.
Sanding today, with the suggested sanding block, took about four hours, including a layer of microballoons that I added to the faring after sanding. There were no real low spots but quite a few pin holes, that a 'runny' mix should fill nicely.
I purchased a new rotary cutter for the job. I knew that lots of people used them but I had always gotten along fine with scissors. What a dope, the rotary cutter is LOT better. It took no time to cut all the parts, with no stray edges. The other nice thing that they suggested was a proper shaped sanding block. They send a template that gives you the radius required and I just used a hand plane to shave the wood block to the correct radius. The block was just a 4" long piece of pine, 2.5"? wide and 3/4" thick. Nothing fancy. This really took the guess work out of the sanding an although my eye is pretty good, the block is better!
Nice job by Van's with the videos and plans. Easily within reach of a handy first time builder.
This picture shows all the glass pieces cut, as per plans and laid out ready for layup.
The process took a little less then the four hours that they suggested. The only change I made was to add another couple of layers of tape to the windscreen and thus more glass cloth for a bit of a thicker edge then specified. Absolutely nothing wrong with sticking with the plans, I just like a bit thicker edge.
Sanding today, with the suggested sanding block, took about four hours, including a layer of microballoons that I added to the faring after sanding. There were no real low spots but quite a few pin holes, that a 'runny' mix should fill nicely.
I purchased a new rotary cutter for the job. I knew that lots of people used them but I had always gotten along fine with scissors. What a dope, the rotary cutter is LOT better. It took no time to cut all the parts, with no stray edges. The other nice thing that they suggested was a proper shaped sanding block. They send a template that gives you the radius required and I just used a hand plane to shave the wood block to the correct radius. The block was just a 4" long piece of pine, 2.5"? wide and 3/4" thick. Nothing fancy. This really took the guess work out of the sanding an although my eye is pretty good, the block is better!
Nice job by Van's with the videos and plans. Easily within reach of a handy first time builder.
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