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New glass fairings vs 25 yr old ones?

S

sblack

Well Known Member
I bought a nearly (ya right) finished kit bought in 1990. The glass cowl and fairings have a heavy polyester gelcoat and the fit of the fairings is poor. I understand that the rv4 cowls are now epoxy glass and lighter etc. Does anyone know if the fairings (elevator, rudder etc) fairings have been improved over the years? If I buy new ones will I be doing the same rework as the ones I have or will buying new fairings save me some time?
 
sblack said:
I bought a nearly (ya right) finished kit bought in 1990. The glass cowl and fairings have a heavy polyester gelcoat and the fit of the fairings is poor. I understand that the rv4 cowls are now epoxy glass and lighter etc. Does anyone know if the fairings (elevator, rudder etc) fairings have been improved over the years? If I buy new ones will I be doing the same rework as the ones I have or will buying new fairings save me some time?
Click to expand...

Having fitted one of each type to me -6 (the white one had a major fit error - my fault) I can say that the new cowls are much easier to work with.

The white polyester ones are all floppy and seem to position themselves in a different location every time they are removed and refitted during assembly.

The newer pink cowls are so much stiffer they can be taken off and replaced accurately during fitting and trimming.

The new ones are also lighter - This is from an old post of mine -

I have one of each (don't ask, but it was my fault ), an original white polyester one, and a later pink honeycomb one.

Both are for a -6A and are fabricated with the hinges installed and no interior or exterior surface finishing.

Lower
White - 12 lb.
Pink - 10 lb.

Upper
White - 8 lb
Pink - 7 lb. - Note this one has the "elephant ears" added and glued in place, the white upper does not.

Unfortunately, the only scales I had were bathroom scales so the accuracy/resolution is not very good on the measurements.

If you want more accurate numbers I can try and rustle up a fish scale.
 
sblack said:
How about the empennage fairings?
Click to expand...

I remade the stock ones that had a lousy fit. This was an article I posted and was copied by the RVator c. 1997-

1. Go out and buy WEST epoxy and 410 microballoons.

2. Use Vans part as a male mold to make new fairing with only ONE layer of
4 oz. cloth. Get some mold wax and PVA release agent and use them to
ensure seperation after curing.

3. Tape everything in sight at the fin/stab. area with a layer of vinyl
tape. I used 3M #417 tape (also called 'glider tape' ...:^) Do not use
masking tape ... this taped surface must be a release for epoxy. Do a good
job here or you will find all sorts of eppenage parts unintentionally
bonded into a single assembly....:^)

4. The molding you just made is VERY flexible and can now be taped in place
at it's edges only (the edge 1/8 inch only) on the fin/stab junction. I
used vinyl electrical tape a different color from the tape of step 3. It
will hold it's curve well when the edges are held.

5. It probably won't fit well around the LE of the fin ... no big deal,
just cut a notch in the molding so it fits. Every plane seems to be
different in this area.

6. Lay up 2 layers of 9 oz. cloth (satin weave preferred) onto of your
thin, taped-in-place molding with the WEST epoxy. Use seperate pieces on
each side and overlap an inch or two at the centerline. The floppy cloth
should nicely bridge the the notch you had to cut in step 5. Use a peel
ply over the final wet layup and gently squegee the excess resin into the
peel ply ... I cut the peel ply into 3 to 4 inch wide strips since the peel
ply won't conform well to curves.

7. Let cure completely. Leave it for 2 or 3 times longer than you would
think ...:^)

8. Sand lightly .. you will usually need some sort of curved sanding block
... I made one from blue foam.

9. Any low spots found in the sanding step can be lightly filled with WEST
epoxy and microballoons applied with a squegee.

10. Sand again, sanding most of the filler off.

11. Repeat 9 and 10 until you are happy with the smoothness. I only needed
two applications of filler. All sanding was done by hand, starting with 60
grit. I found the latex paint compatible sandpaper (the green stuff) from
the hardware store to be the least likely to clog. When you are all done,
there should only be patches of filler left, not a complete layer of filler.

12. Pull the tape off that is holding the edge of the original single layer
molding down. A sideways motion works here since the tape edge is now
laminated between the original 4 oz layer and the later two 9 oz layers.

13. Trim the edges of the part to final dimensions .. usually this should
be just inside the tape location of step 4.

14. Remove all tape from step 3 that was providing a masking function.

14. Re-install fairing and drill for the #8 mounting screws.

This technique has been used on at least 4 local RV6s, and with the
WEST epoxy will give a much more stable molding than the original kit one.
It will also fit your plane EXACTLY. Other materials may work, but those
listed above definitely work and are easy to use. It was clean enough with
the WEST epoxy mini-pumps I found I could laminate a layer of cloth in my
regular clothes without a mess.
 
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