I started today by refilling the slow hardener bottles & cleaning the Dritz scissors.

I then removed the peel ply from the CS spar, cleaned up & removed the peel ply strings & goobers from the layup.

I used the Fein saw to cut the glass flush at the CS spar end.

After cleaning up the end glass on the spar, I removed it from its 2×4 mounts.

I again used the Fein saw to trim the glass along the top & bottom edges (at the angled/wedged corner) so it was close to the foam.  I hit the edges with a hard sanding block as well.

I cut the 5″ x 14″ oval access hole on the front face of the CS spar.

I removed the peel ply at the edge of the oval hole & sanded a beveled transition around the cutout.

I then sanded the entire front face & Dremeled out any dead micro & epoxy.

Finally, I vacuumed the entire spar & the surrounding work bench.

I started off today by mounting two long 2×4’s to the middle of the 5″ x 14″ oval access panel.

I used 3″ long drywall screws & the nice part is that it’s drilled to glass that will simply get removed and chucked.

I laid out the plies of UNI & cut plastic for the pre-preg.

I micro’d the foam with both dry micro & microslurry.  I then wet out the pre-pregged UNI.

I then laid up the pre-pregged UNI glass onto 3 sides of the spar: top, aft & bottom.  This is the plan’s Layup #6.

I cut the edges on each side close to the 1/2″ x 1″ wedge cutouts on the front corners of the spar.

I then floxed 2 each LWA3 aluminum extrusions & 2 each LWA3 aluminum extrusions on top of the existing Inboard & Outboard extrusions.  I covered the LWAs with the UNI & BID plies that I cut on 24 Sep.

I then peel plied the entire layup & weighed down the Inboard extrusions.

Sep 26-28

Researched electrical system (reading Bob Nuckolls’ The AeroElectric Connection) & ordered components from B&C.

I set up the heaters today to get the garage/workshop ready for the big layup #6 glassing, but I couldn’t get it heated past 62°F.

So I pre-deployed the cut glass to the garage & decided to wait until Saturday to do the big layup (so I could glass during the day while the weather is obviously the warmest).

Today I cut 2 sets of the Outboard UNI extrusion caps:  3″ wide x 12″, 14″, 16″ long.

I also cut 2 sets of the Inboard UNI extrusion caps: 3″ wide x 8″, 10″, 12″ long.

Finally, I cut 2 sets of BID for the final Outboard extrusion layup glass ply (5″ x 6″) and 2 sets for the final Inboard extrusion layup glass ply (5″ x 8″).

Today I started by cleaning the shop.  As you can see the sanding to knock down the steps and get the spar surface smooth has left the shop a complete fiberglass & foam dusted mess.

After I got the shop cleaned up, I measured, cut, fitted & micro’d the top 2 Spruce wood hard points.

I also sanded the spar cap corners so they would be radiused when it was time to glass the spar skin.

Today I started the build at the base wood hobby shop.  I cut the remaining “L” templates for the Roncz canard, and cut outlines of the CS109 cockpit control system mount & RT3 Roll Trim bracket.  Additionally, I cut 10 x 6″ dowels & 1 x 12″ dowel for the Roncz canard & sharpened them all to a good point using an old school pencil sharpener.

I used a coping saw to cut off the remainder of the 1/2″ x 1″ wedge-shaped angle on the front corner of the CS spar.  I then sanded to shape the angle on the front corner to finish it.

I shaved just hair off the length of the top Spruce wood hard points so that they were just under 3″ in length.

After I mocked up the Spruce hard points for a good trial fit on the spar top side, I flipped the CS spar and belt sanded the spar cap “steps” to smooth out the spar cap surface.  I also hit the bottom spar cap with the orbital sander just to smooth it out a touch more.  I then sanded the foam of the bottom side just in front of the spar cap to match the foam & spar cap to each other & smooth out the entire bottom spar surface.

I Dremeled all along the joint between the spar cap & the foam on both the top & bottom side of the spar, down the entire length of the spar caps to remove dead micro, flox, epoxy & glass.

I made a trial fit of the Spruce hard points on the bottom side of the spar after marking, cutting out & removing the foam.  I trimmed the bottom Spruce hard point blocks by almost 0.1″ in height to allow room for the micro that would be used to bond them in place. I then mitered the angle on the front of each Spruce hard point to match the angle on the spar face foam.

After all the prep was complete, I micro’d in the 2 bottom Spruce hard points.

I then cut the 4 layers of UNI for the final wrap of the top, bottom & back faces of the CS spar (layup #6).  The front face of the spar is left to glass until last and accounts for the access hole in the front of the spar and also overlaps onto layup #6.

I checked the lower spar cap layup first thing… it looked good!

I pulled the peel ply & Fein-sawed the ends off level with each end bulkhead.

I then removed the dams & chiseled off the residue.  I sanded the aft face of the CS spar to remove the dead bondo, epoxy, etc.

I then belt sanded the upper spar cap to level out the “steps.”  The steps are the end of each subsequent layer of 3″ UNI glass after it cures.  The stuff is so thick that even though it gets peel plied, there is a very visible step at each layer of glass in the spar.  The belt sander helps smooth it out so that it’s not TOO lumpy when the spar gets it’s final wrapped glass skin.

A builder’s tip on laying up spar caps I received AFTER I glassed 6 of the 8 spar caps on this bird (the last 2 are on the canard) is to pull the individual strands in each layer of 3″ UNI tape so the are very staggered on each end.  You still have the same amount of glass, it’s just spread out over a broader area…. so doing it the easy & efficient way is fine for some builders, but I’ll stick to my knuckle-dragging Neanderthal ways thank you very much….ha! (sheesh . . . )

I also sanded down the foam adjacent to the spar cap to make sure it was level & smooth.

Below are some good shots of the wing-to-spar bolt extrusions & the CS spar caps.

Since sanding is so fun, I continued on in my material removal quest by starting in on removing the front corner wedge.  This wedge is removed to create an angled corner “LE” on both the top & bottom that will eventually receive the also-angled glassed foam top & bottom skins of the strake.  In fact, the front Outboard faces of the CS spar makes up the aft wall of the fuel tanks and are forever hidden (hopefully) within the strakes once everything is all glassed up.

I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s amusing to me how a number of steps spelled out in the plans look so benign, simple and minimal in effort . . . until you start the step.  These front corner angles look simple enough to remove the material, but it took quite a while and a fair amount of work.  It probably didn’t help that I used the much tougher blue PVC vs the easily-carved Urethane foam in my construction of the CS spar.  Even still, I’m happy with my choice to use the blue foam.

I took a break from shaping the corner angles & grabbed my Spruce wood hard points that get embedded into the CS spar for the engine mounts to bolt to, as well as the fuselage longerons.  I had cut those hard point inserts a while ago, so installing them was simply a matter of marking & removing the foam from the hard point locations.

Also, a week or so ago on a slow build night, I had measured out the new locations of my hard points compared to the stock plans location since my fuselage is wider.  And, although my fuselage is wider, so too are my longerons.  Thus, my hard point locations were only about .2″ off from the original plans location.

Today I removed the peel ply from the CS spar bottom spar cap trough repair layup… it looked good.

I sanded down the spar cap trough & cleaned up the peel ply goobers.

I then used 1x2s for the lower spar cap Outboard dams, and because I’m cheap (and slightly retarded) I reused a recycled piece of 1/4″ ply from the top spar cap layup for the center dam piece.  I bondo’d the dam pieces to the CS spar for the lower spar cap layup.

I did a final sanding & cleanup of the lower spar cap trough & vacuumed the entire layup area.  I taped the foam adjacent & lying next to the spar cap trough & then marked the BLs for the individual lengths of 3″ UNI tape that would be glassed into the spar cap.

I mounted the epoxy runoffs on each of the spar and repositioned the spar lower & secured it in place.  I needed it lower because hours & hours of glassing these spar caps will give you carpel tunnel & make your hands numb from the odd position they’re in while glassing.

I floxed the front of the channel again just like I did on the upper spar cap, before laying in the 3″ UNI tape.  I then glassed the lower spar cap.  I started around 8:30 pm & finished at half past Midnight (4 hours).

I peel plied the spar cap and called it a night.  Below is the total amount of epoxy I have left from the huge container I bought in May.  So far, I’ve used about 8 gals of epoxy since I’ve been in Germany.

Today I started by sanding a good majority of the plywood dam remnants off the CS spar during my lunch break.  Later on, I sanded a bunch more (the 1/4″ plywood was simply a PITA to remove).

I prepped the foam near the corner of the shear web on the edge of the lower spar cap channel where I would be laying up my repair glass.  I used a mixture of flox & micro on the newly bared foam.  In a few spots I used straight flox for a smooth transition from foam to the existing glass.

I prep-pregged & laid up the 2-ply UNI & 1-ply BID on the lower spar cap channel.  I then peel plied the newly laid repair glass.

As for pics, you are probably noticing a trend.  As I transcribe my build log from my notes & put them online, I notice that documenting events tended to go by the wayside when I went into crisis/repair mode.  Thus, unfortunately, I don’t have any pics of this repair.  I would say that I will try to do better in the future, but my days of making any mistakes during this project are behind me, so I won’t have any to document.  HA!  (I wish . . .)