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Best way to finish joint between fiberglass empenage tips and aluminum skin?
- Thread starter dwilson
- Start date
az_gila
Well Known Member
Duane
1) will crack under the paint
2) will probably crack under your paint, like 1) but you had to do more work to get to the same state...
3) I went this way... need to scuff the alum. just like the metal under the windshield fibreglass....
4) Would like to hear. Some folks used ProSeal to attach the end pieces... would like to hear if this flexed and cracked under the paint...
gil in Tucson
1) will crack under the paint
2) will probably crack under your paint, like 1) but you had to do more work to get to the same state...
3) I went this way... need to scuff the alum. just like the metal under the windshield fibreglass....
4) Would like to hear. Some folks used ProSeal to attach the end pieces... would like to hear if this flexed and cracked under the paint...
gil in Tucson
RV7Factory
Chief Obfuscation Officer
AndrewTR30
Active Member
Do like Dan
http://www.rvproject.com/20031228.html
Vans says uneven expansion and contraction can cause the joint to crack if you only fill it in. I think the layer of cloth will prevent this.
Dan C. any comments?
http://www.rvproject.com/20031228.html
Vans says uneven expansion and contraction can cause the joint to crack if you only fill it in. I think the layer of cloth will prevent this.
Dan C. any comments?
pierre smith
Well Known Member
KISS
Hi,
#1. Pop rivet 'em on and paint them. If you use fiberglass, are you going to stretch it over the stab as well? You're asking for more weight/time/expense.
KISS, IMHO
Hi,
#1. Pop rivet 'em on and paint them. If you use fiberglass, are you going to stretch it over the stab as well? You're asking for more weight/time/expense.
KISS, IMHO
Capflyer
Well Known Member
I just finished putting most of mine on. After the poprivets pull them tight to the aluminum, the seam between them looks natural. I figure that if I wanted it all to look like one piece I would have built a composite plane.
The only issue I have is that the right HS tip needs to come out a little to match up with the elevator tip. This leaves the gap between the HS and the indented flange on the fiberglass tip with a gap that is about 1/8". I'll just use a little filler in there and when it cracks it will crack along the aluminum HS and match everything else.
The only issue I have is that the right HS tip needs to come out a little to match up with the elevator tip. This leaves the gap between the HS and the indented flange on the fiberglass tip with a gap that is about 1/8". I'll just use a little filler in there and when it cracks it will crack along the aluminum HS and match everything else.
pierre smith said:Hi,
#1. Pop rivet 'em on and paint them. If you use fiberglass, are you going to stretch it over the stab as well? You're asking for more weight/time/expense.
KISS, IMHO
Amen Pierre. Its a metal airplane. You're 'sposeta see joints like that!
Regards,
RV7Guy
Well Known Member
Glass work
Common guys, CONQUER IT!!!!! Not that tough.
The main key to glass work is prep!!! Clean thoroughly before sanding anything.
When you attach the tail pieces clean and then scuff the metal parts as well as the glass. Lay a nice layer of microfiller and epoxy on the joggle when you install. Cleco in place and pop rivet. When done use a credit card, (I save all those plastic room keys for this purpose) to remove the excess epoxy that spooges out.
Sand everything again when cured, clean. Fill any voids with micro and epoxy using a card for a flat surface. Using West Systems (or similar) epoxy lay a minimum 1" wide piece of glass cloth over the seam. Only use enough epoxy to wet the weave.
Sand the edges when done, clean. I like to use Rage auto body filler from here. It is a light weight, catalyzed filler that sands like butter. Be sure to sand and scuff at least an 1" out from the area. Use the Rage and a card to fill the edges and create a consistent smooth surface. Sand and fill until perfect.
Prep for paint is another matter we can get into later.
Anyone going to LOE can look my plane over at the ECI display. I'm not there but the plane is!!!!
Common guys, CONQUER IT!!!!! Not that tough.
The main key to glass work is prep!!! Clean thoroughly before sanding anything.
When you attach the tail pieces clean and then scuff the metal parts as well as the glass. Lay a nice layer of microfiller and epoxy on the joggle when you install. Cleco in place and pop rivet. When done use a credit card, (I save all those plastic room keys for this purpose) to remove the excess epoxy that spooges out.
Sand everything again when cured, clean. Fill any voids with micro and epoxy using a card for a flat surface. Using West Systems (or similar) epoxy lay a minimum 1" wide piece of glass cloth over the seam. Only use enough epoxy to wet the weave.
Sand the edges when done, clean. I like to use Rage auto body filler from here. It is a light weight, catalyzed filler that sands like butter. Be sure to sand and scuff at least an 1" out from the area. Use the Rage and a card to fill the edges and create a consistent smooth surface. Sand and fill until perfect.
Prep for paint is another matter we can get into later.
Anyone going to LOE can look my plane over at the ECI display. I'm not there but the plane is!!!!
As a guy who's done quite a lot of body and paint work I can't quite get my head around the "strip of cloth" method. Where the cloth meets the metal it will stand proud of the metal skin a small but visible amount. To blend this invisibly into the metal will require filler to extend well out (several inches) onto the skin. I've seen many of these tails up close. The ones in primer look ok, but would look like **** under paint. Some of the ones I've seen with paint have a slight bulge, others have some cracking visible. To be fair, I have seen several that look perfect, but I expect there is a lot of filler under there.
az_gila
Well Known Member
A rule of thumb...
Steve... an old surf board shaper (who worked with Hobie Alter(sp?) gave me a good rule of thumb for blending.
Use 1 inch per oz. of cloth to blend on a flat surface for an almost optically perfect blend. In our RV tips you can get away with half of this and be only slightly detectable.
If you use thin cloth - like the 0.7 oz or 1.4 oz/sq. yd. - a blend distance of 1 inch or so will do it....
http://www.cstsales.com/fiberglass.html
Note, this is for flat surfaces only.... just sand it smooth on the curved portion of the empennage tips.
gil in Tucson .... covered an entire 42 ft. wooden sailplane in the the 0.7 oz cloth, 2 layers of 4 oz on the tips, and blended every joint...
szicree said:
Steve... an old surf board shaper (who worked with Hobie Alter(sp?) gave me a good rule of thumb for blending.
Use 1 inch per oz. of cloth to blend on a flat surface for an almost optically perfect blend. In our RV tips you can get away with half of this and be only slightly detectable.
If you use thin cloth - like the 0.7 oz or 1.4 oz/sq. yd. - a blend distance of 1 inch or so will do it....
http://www.cstsales.com/fiberglass.html
Note, this is for flat surfaces only.... just sand it smooth on the curved portion of the empennage tips.
gil in Tucson .... covered an entire 42 ft. wooden sailplane in the the 0.7 oz cloth, 2 layers of 4 oz on the tips, and blended every joint...
cytoxin
Well Known Member
like this
saw a plane (7A) like this and it looked very nice and finished.. have seen some awesome ones three years agao all finished and slick now they all have small cracks (very small) and what not. i am leaning myself to the rivet em on and paint. this looks way better than you think.pierre smith said:Hi,
#1. Pop rivet 'em on and paint them. If you use fiberglass, are you going to stretch it over the stab as well? You're asking for more weight/time/expense.
KISS, IMHO
Since I am at the stage of finishing the elevator and HS caps right now I decided to take a look at 90% of tails at LOE. I didn't see one crack on any of the tails that used filler and finished the seams. There seemed to be several who used the cloth and many that did not. The ones that did more than just paint the crack looked great. The ones that didn't fill that crack looked great also! The question is do you want to look like a Cirrus or Gulfstream or like more like an all metal airplane? By the way, the workmanship at LOE was outstanding!
