After a meeting I had in the office earlier today I ran over to Maryland to pick up a different brand of boat paint.  I’m going to do some tests and will report back on the entire plan later on.

Upon returning home I took the elevator tube out of the PVC tube filled with white vinegar and flipped it over to get the untouched 25% into the vinegar.  I cleaned off the majority of gunk with paper towels, then grabbed my razor knife and started cleaning off the dead glass.  I got as far down as the second hinge hardpoint (NC2).

After getting as much of the soaked dead glass off the tube as possible, I set the elevator tube back into the PVC tube filled with vinegar to soak.

After I put the elevator tube back in the vinegar cleaning solution, I then sanded the canard surface starting with 80 grit on the long board, and then switched to 120 grit on the long board as well.  I then switched to 150 grit paper and hand sanded each swoosh tip.

I was still getting a fair amount of residue on the sandpaper and had to clean it off the paper at regular intervals.  After going through another few sheets of very expensive long board sandpaper (although tonight was much better than last night as far as residue buildup), I decided to wait until tomorrow to finish sanding the top of the canard after it’s cured just a bit more.

In addition, I’m going to hit the canard with another couple coats of primer of the new boat paint.  I can tell already that this new primer is much more high build than my current primer, and of course you always need a good base of primer preferably of the same brand.  In light of this, I really want to get this primer sanded down to where the canard shape is as close to final as possible, and then smoothed out even more once the new primer is applied.

I then broke out the new paint to try it out.  As I said before as I was looking at the actual color of the white boat paint I had ordered before, in contrast with the white label on the gallon can and a standard white piece of paper, it clearly looked off white.  To compare and contrast the new paint I sanded down half of the headrest GPS antenna cover with 220 grit paper, and then painted it with the new paint.  I have to say that A) the new boat paint went on much easier and laid down much better than the old boat paint, and B) the new paint seems to have more of a “blue” hue vs a “yellow” hue, as you can see below. The bottom line is that the new paint is simply whiter, in my opinion.

Here’s a couple shots of the elevator tube in its current state.  I would say it’s about 90% clean, and after I shot these pics I put it back in the PVC tube to soak in the vinegar over night.

Finally, here are a couple of shots of the canard with nothing but a single light reflecting on its surface.  This provides a good view of the imperfections currently on the top surface of the canard.  As you can see, there are few minor imperfections –mainly simple & minor surface depressions– on each side of the canard top.

Tomorrow I plan on doing a final clean of the elevator tube, sanding down the surface, and then Alodining it in prep of micro’ing the elevator core to it.  I will also do a final sanding of the current primer on the canard top in prep of laying down a couple coats of the new primer.  I’ll then let the new primer cure 24-48 hours before giving it a final sanding.

Or rather the canard!

I started out today by sanding the pure epoxy coat on the topside of the canard.  I began with 120 grit on the long board in a 45° pattern, both to the left and to the right.  After I sanded both sides with the long board, I then switched to 220 grit and wet sanded the epoxy finish.  This helped get the lower lying areas that should get filled with the high build primer.

Here’s a shot of the right side.  For some reason the blog didn’t like the left side pic since I couldn’t load it.  Needless to say, it looked about the same.

I then applied primer to the canard.  The shot below to the left is the first coat, and the right is the second coat.

In between priming the top of the canard, and watching football, I cut out the 2 phenolic support pieces that will be embedded in the NG30 cover for the AMP CPC connectors.

I also cut the 8 pieces of UNI for the new elevators that I will be rebuilding here in the next week.

In total I added 3 coats of primer.  I’ll wait until its cured tomorrow to block sand it.

Also, as I was prepping the canard for primer I happen to really note the color of the boat paint on the headrest GPS antenna cover and the ice shields.  It’s not a bright white, as the primer is not, so I’ll be calling Jamestown Distributors this week to figure out the way ahead on that.  I want the white on my bird to be as white as possible… not the 1970’s dull off-white stuff.  So I’ll be evaluating the paint further as I move forward.

I finished the 4th application of pure epoxy around 2am, and after that I was tapped out.  I realize now I need to program in 2-1/2 to 3 hours between epoxy wipes on the surface being finished since 2 hours just isn’t enough.  Especially considering that each application of epoxy takes about a full half hour from start to finish to complete.

So, my total epoxy applications at this point is four (4) vs the planned five (5).  This actually works out fine because I can tell that I have some areas, the biggest being about 2″ wide, that will need a little bit more fill.  In addition, the simple action of repeated sanding –once the primary shape has been locked in with the epoxy finish– refines the surface finish when it finally comes to paint.  This may seem like an overly simplistic & obvious statement, but it is true and very evident during the sanding process.

Thus, my “new” (slightly modified) plan was to sand down the current epoxy wipe quite a bit to knock down the high points, level out the surface between the high & low spots, and bring the entire surface of the canard to a much tighter equilibrium finish elevation wise.  Then I would add another 2-3 coats of pure epoxy.

I started by checking the surface contour of the canard by not only focusing on the actual contour as compared to the bottom edge of the “F” template, but also by concentrating on the incidence angle that is being conveyed via seeing how the angle of the top straight edge of the “F” template matches the angle of the work bench.  In the picture below I have a really good top canard surface contour in addition to a spot-on incidence angle.

I then completed the contour check about every 4-6″ along the top surface of the canard. Below you can see the contour sanding lines I drew on the right-side canard top that denote the high points that need to be knocked down a bit for the canard surface to be better aligned with the contour checking template “F”.

To be clear, by cleaning up the contour profile of the canard (bottom side of “F” template) it had a direct effect of bringing the incidence angle into better alignment (top of “F” template).  As it stood, the areas where I marked the lines acted as a high point, or fulcrum if you will, where the contour template teetered upon one way or the other.  That being said, it was actually rather apparent that by reducing the middle high point, or “ridge,” that the forward part of the “F” template fell towards the LE and thus brought the incidence angle into proper specs.

Here’s a shot of the canard after about an hour’s worth of sanding with the long board with 80 grit first, then 120 grit.

I then applied 3 more coats of pure epoxy, waiting 2-3 hours between each coat.

Here’s a shot of each side of the canard with the final 3 (additional) coats of epoxy.  A few hours after the final coat went on, I spent about 45 minutes pulling the remaining protective tape from the sides and cleaning up the TE, LE, and swoosh tip areas with a razor blade.  I got most of the gunk off these areas, but some still remains that will have to be sanded clean once I flip the canard for the final contour of the bottom side, with special focus on the LE.

During one of the ~2 hour curing times between coats I ran out to a auto paint supply store to grab some glazing putty & wet/dry sandpaper to have on hand for this weekend.

I’ll wait a minimum of 24 hours for the epoxy to cure before I do anything to the canard top.

First off, before we get to Cory, as you can see by the pic below my new elevator cores arrived from Eureka CNC!  Thanks Steve!

After doing about an hour’s worth of research on some electrical topics for wiring the nose gear actuator, etc. I picked up my long board to sand yet once again.  (whew! … I’m not gonna get back on my soap box, but I still can’t imagine doing nothing but finishing for MONTHS on end!).

After about 15 minutes of sanding I was very close to the my final contour on the left hand side.  On the outboard third of the canard I’m maybe about 30 thou of inch (0.030″) too wide from LE to TE, but the profile is great.  And since I was closing in on the LE Bondo layer, and the inboard two-thirds looked really good, I called the left side around 97% good.  Any more sanding would have only gummed things up in my opinion, so I stopped while I was ahead.

The right side canard top surface didn’t come out as awesome as the left, but it still looked really good.  Since I had to do quite a bit of sanding on the LE area, I tapered it closer back to the shape where I was compelled to add another micro layer.

When I checked the right side with the contour profile template I got 3 near-perfect contours, 2 good contours, and one just ok.  Now, again, instead of sanding further and just compounding the problem, I decided to let the 5 coats of epoxy and 2-3 coats of primer take care of any minor surface deviations, and will backfill any major abhorrent surface irregularities that exist in the final finish steps.  Taking off a gross amount more of micro finish wouldn’t have done anything but make the overall contour profile even worse.

If I had to call it in percentages of optimum contour, I would give the right side a grade of anywhere between 85% and 89%, at it’s current state.  That being said, I’m confident that it will be at a grade of 95-98% of optimum contour by the time I’m finished.  Moreover, I’m really happy with how the top canard profile turned out!

I shop vacuumed the work bench and the top of the canard, and then taped up the bottom edges to control any overflow of out-of-control epoxy.

I then mixed up some pure West epoxy and spread it over the canard surface top starting on the right side.  It’s amazing how the epoxy wipes removes so many of the sins of micro finishing.  I’m not, of course, endorsing sloppy workmanship, but it’s nice to know that the divots, holes from air bubbles and depressions from not enough thickness in the application of micro will be greatly minimized, if not eliminated altogether, from 5 good applications of a very thin layer of epoxy.

Thus, again, Cory Bird is a genius!  And I’m glad he made this maddening process a heck of a lot easier . . .

I then finished up on the left side.

After the second application of epoxy to the canard top, I sanded down the first coat of final top coat paint on the headrest GPS antenna puck cover, and then sanded down and added the first coat of final white paint to the elevator outboard weight ice shields.

Now, to be honest I haven’t been blown away with the performance of this boat paint.  I don’t have negative feelings towards it either, but the jury is still out.  I may need to look at a better way of applying it, because on these parts I just used a cheap paint brush.  Thus, we shall see . . .

My plan for the rest of the evening is to get the final 3 coats of epoxy applied to the top surface of the canard.  In lieu of this, I won’t be adding any more to this post this evening.

Tomorrow, I’ll be prepping for the building of the elevators while the epoxy cures. Tomorrow evening I’ll most likely do a final sand of the epoxy covered canard and hit it with its first coat of primer.  And I still need to add some material to the right swoosh tip edge as well.

To start, I cheese grated both LEs & the various spot fills on the canard surface shortly around midnight.  I have to say that I notice when sanding micro it seems to be tougher at the beginning when breaking through the shiny layer of epoxy that cures on the surface of the micro.  Once into & through that layer, the sanding tends to go a little faster with ever so slightly less pressure (ahem, not implying that a good bit of umph isn’t still required!).  Well, cheese grating seems to get to the point where that top shiny surface layer has already been broken through.  I’m hoping this is the case and that any difficulties that arise between sanding between micro layer #1 and added micro layer #2 is minimized by cheese grating.

An important realization that I had when I cheese grated the right LE is that the LE still wasn’t thick enough for my (and the contour profile template’s) liking.  It was late though & I really didn’t want to be up for another 30-45 minutes, so I left the adding of micro finish layer #3 until this morning.

After I got done cheese grating the top canard surfaces, I pried apart the two halves of the headrest by slowly & carefully inserting straight razor blades around the entire sides & back side of the edges where I applied the micro.  A big oops here and thank goodness I caught it in the green stage, because this would have been near impossible if the micro had fully cured.  I thought that the peel ply would make it so the two sides came apart with the typical & gratifying peel ply tear off, but this was a solid cure and turned the top & bottom “halves” of my headrest back into one solid piece.  Yes, if it ain’t one thing it’s another!  Ha!

That’s 30 minutes of my life I’m not getting back!

This morning I added more micro to the right side LE.  Again, we’re talking if I get 1/16″ added filler depth after sanding (which is always the trick! that damned sanding inexplicably tends to remove the stuff you put on in the first place… bewildering!) then I’ll be happy.

I also noted after checking the canard surface with my contour profile template that the aft side of the left side canard has just a bit of daylight, so I skim coated with micro the entire left side aft canard about an inch forward of the LE in about a 3″ swath.  Here, anything that provides a little extra surface depth is golden since I’m not overly concerned about this area.  But since I’m contending with other areas on the top of the canard, I might as well take the opportunity to tweak this area as well.

Yesterday, when I wrote up my 3×5 card to-do list (or “cut sheet”) for finishing the top of the canard, I added tasks that I can do in-between the epoxy wipes during the 2-2.5 hours it takes for the epoxy to set up for the next coat of pure epoxy.  These are those small, gotta do tasks that SHOULD get done eventually, but don’t hold a lot of weight in actually getting the plane built, or at a minimum, have anything to do with the current chapter at hand.  Of course there’s been a myriad of these pesky tasks that require completion: from adding the click bonds to the wing root rib, to micro’ing the edges of the headrest, cutting the 4130 engine mount extrusions, etc.

Although clearly I have not yet started the epoxy wipes on the canard, since I have to wait for the freshly added micro layer #3 to green, I started in on my list of these tasks… the first one being to sand down the base of the rollover on each side to clean up the irregular surfaces & shoot it with primer again.

Sanding round #1 I used 100 grit paper on each side, then did a final round #2 sanding with 220 grit paper.

I then cleaned up the freshly sanded surfaces with Simple Green, took the rollover assembly outside and shot the sanded areas with 3 coats of the same Rustoleum gloss black primer that I used previously.

With my canard micro still not “greened” yet, I spent a good 45 minutes cleaning up and organizing my garage work shop (much needed, and yes, on the to-do list!).

After my cleaning spree, and with both the rollover assembly and the re-micro’d canard still curing, I decided to test out my boat paint on the headrest GPS antenna puck cover.

I duct taped the antenna cover to the top of a paint spray can and then brushed & tipped on the first coat of white boat paint.  This will be the first of a few test applications I use to see if I’m going to move forward with using boat paint, or at least this brand of boat paint.

Finally, the new micro was at a good green stage to cheese grate it.  I spent a good 20 minutes cheese grating the LE edge area and then I quickly hit the left-side TE swath that I had applied at the same time as the right-side LE.

If you look closely in the pic below, you can see that the swoosh tip has some Bondo on its ridged edge.  I applied this shortly after micro layer #3, but forgot to snap a pic of it, which I rectified below.

Here’s a shot of the bondo on the swoosh tip ridge edge.  It needs to be built up just a hair to A) cut a near straight line profile-wise from front to back since it has a very slight dip, and B) the ridge needs to be just a tad bit more pronounced (read: higher) to better match the left side ridge.

Again, I know Bondo is MUCH heavier than micro, so I’m using it very sparingly, but I know from experience that it’s some tough stuff.  As you can see below, just from the very initial sanding, that I’ve knocked off about 80% of the Bondo that you see above.  Once I get the ridge set, I’ll probable follow up the Bondo with a final application of flocro (micro & flox mixed together) to smooth out any irregularities and add to the strength of the ridge.

As I was just finishing up with the cheese grating I heard the distinct sound of my neighbor’s Harley.  I haven’t seen my neighbor Dave around in weeks, and with my bike sitting in the driveway at the ready, I ended up going on a scoot for a few hours with Dave.

Tomorrow I plan on actually getting the top of the canard finished to its final contour & shape, and then get the 5 coats of epoxy squeegeed on.  Also, as an update, the original FedEx ETA of today for my Eureka CNC elevator cores has been slipped to the right one day until tomorrow.  No worries since I obviously need to get this canard finishing complete to clear up workbench space to build the elevators.