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RV Fiberglass Supplies and Tools

DavidHarris

Well Known Member
I'm building a Vans RV-7A and am getting close to time to do the fiberglass for the canopy and fairings. The extent of my fiberglass experience is a 1-hour workshop at Oshkosh.

I'd appreciate advice on what supplies to gather for the job. Vans suggests West Systems.

I'm thinking of ordering:
1 gal West System 105 Expoxy
1 qt West System 205 - fast hardener
1 qt West System 206 - slow hardener
West Systems 300 Ratio pumps

Vans recommends microballoons for filling the canopy area. I see the West System 410 Microlight Fairing Filler at Aircraft Spruce that claims to be easier to use than 407 low density filler or microballoons but not recommended on surfaces subject to high temperature. Is this a good choice, or not on the exterior? I don't find microballoons searching Aircraft Spruce.

ACS has a bunch of types of glass fiberglass cloth. Vans says media weight. Can anyone recommend a specific type, and how much I'll need for the RV7A?

Are there any other tools or supplies that will be helpful for this job? Good videos or a book for a novice?

Thanks,

David
 
Get yourself a set of inexpensive digital scales from Amazon or the equivalent.

Using the scales, you'll be able to measure your resin and hardener much more accurately than with the pumps. The pumps are great for dispensing, but the precision is lacking, IMO.

If using the scales, measure out a quantity of the hardner first, then add the resin. You'll get more accurate results that way.

Oh, and get a supply of wax free cups.
 
Fiberglass

If it's of any value, here is my Aircraft Spruce order to build a fiberglass kit.
West 105 gallon
Part #: 01-00354
West 206 quart
Part #: 01-00360
Fiberglass cloth standard 8oz
Part #: 7781-60
PVA Release
Part #: 01-14813A
Flocked Cotton Fiber
Part #: 01-14800
Surface Tape Dacron 3"
Part #: 09-15200

I had Microbaloons
I also ordered pigment for the canopy skirt
Black pigment
Part #: 01-45319
I didn't order fast hardener or pumps. I use large syringes to draw material out and dispense by weight using a small gram scale. I also purchased a couple mustard/ketchup bottles. They work great to dispense product carefully.
I'm sure Dan has a much better list.
Edit...
I saw this in one of Dans postings and wanted to preserve it with my list.
"7761 is an 8-harness (look it up). 7725 is a 4-harness. 7500 is a plain over/under. At the shop level, the difference is how easily each conforms with curvature, which is roughly inverse to speed of wet-out. All are in the 9oz range. Experiment."
 
Last edited:
Glass supplies

Harbor freight digital scale has been reliable for two projects. West fast hardener never worked well for me. Stayed rubbery and ultimately removed, so test 😊
 
I personally would recommend against using West systems. There are far better epoxies out there for far less money. We really like the Jeffco 1307LV resin and 3176 hardener. ACS has it for $90/gallon, as opposed to West at $142 for 1.2 gallons.

I have had too many bad experiences with West System. Primarily related to it "cold inhibiting." If the temperature gets too low during cure, it will inhibit, and then no amount of elevated temperture cure cycle will harden it. It will stay rubbery.

I agree with the comment about the poor mixing accuracy of the West pumps. There are some very good dispensing pump systems out there that do meter precisely, in the $500 range. Really handy for small quantities. For large layups when we are mixing 400 grams at a time, a scale is definitely the way to go.
 
hmmm...

All I used was West Systems...never experienced any issues with the epoxy curing properly or the pumps yielding a wrong mixture.

Am going on my third gallon of resin...no, it isn't ALL on my -10:eek:
 
All I used was West Systems...never experienced any issues with the epoxy curing properly or the pumps yielding a wrong mixture.

The West Epoxies have a fair tolerance to poor ratio control, but if you measure the ratios and consistency of what the pumps dispense, you'd be surprised at how far off they can be. Even worse, the pumps can lose prime and you get a full squirt from one pump and a partial from the other. The question is "How much of that component do I need to add to make up for the air bubble the pump spit?"
 
David, one item that you will use no matter what type of epoxy or filler you are using is spreading cards. I used to buy the yellow spreaders from HF and they work ok. I didn't have a clean one once and had a hotel key card. I never went back. If you know anyone at a hotel or apartment complex, you can probably get them for free. You can order blanks from Amazon or send me an email and I will send you a bunch.

Have fun with it - you can always sand out mistakes!
 
Dave, going to the appropriate forum section and then clicking the "Views" tab is a good way to pop up the popular threads on most topics. Reading the first 10 or so threads is often a good primer, with specialty questions being a little further down the list.

Here, I copied the resulting URL from the fiberglass forum:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=106&daysprune=-1&order=desc&sort=views

Notes:

Buy and use scales for ratio. They work for all resins, and for proseal. Condiment squirt containers and/or old pancake syrup bottles make good resin and hardener dispensers. Pumps suck...literally.

The world is full of claims for better mousetraps, but glass micro, flox, and cabosil are all the additives you'll ever need.

As Steve said, there are better epoxies, better mostly being a matter of structural properties. That said, there isn't much structural glass in an RV kit, so West has been popular here. The most important detail for reliable curing of any epoxy is climate control...low humidity, 75F.

If you use West, buy only a little can of fast hardener. You won't use much.

7761 is an 8-harness (look it up). 7725 is a 4-harness. 7500 is a plain over/under. At the shop level, the difference is how easily each conforms with curvature, which is roughly inverse to speed of wet-out. All are in the 9oz range. Experiment.

Learn to do wet-outs between 4-mil clear plastic sheets. It's called vapor barrier at the big box store.

Do not thin epoxy with solvents. Yes, it's common practice, but properties go downhill fast.
 
+1 for wetout between film !

When the glass is transparent under the film the layers stick together better than application of individual layers sequentially. Also, the 4 layer matrices is surprisingly conformable to curves. The top layer of film makes a great ?barrier? for your gloves so you can form and massage the glass as desired into features. Follow Dan?s bible, it works.
 
I just purchased my west epoxy from Merrit Supply only to find out that if I had gone straight from West Marine it is free shipping. :mad:
 
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