Over the past few days I have been able to finish up sanding all the epoxy wiped areas I finished nearly 2 months ago.  Not to brag, but that’s quite a decent little feat given the average shop temps have been well in the 90’s, with the heat index way above 100° F (I’ve also been helping local Canardian Guy Williams on stuff with his Long-EZ).

Here we have a the right side of the fuselage and nose adorned with pencil marks to be used as my ‘poor man’s sanding guide.’ (pic 1).  And after some aggressive sanding with both the new Jitterbug pad sander and the 30″ longboard I finally had to admit defeat in this area and apply another round of micro/West 410 to the low spots (pic 2).

I slathered quite a number of small divots and major pin holes all around the recently sanded epoxy-wiped areas with micro, including the nose as well.  I suspect on the nose and upper sidewalls that I’ll finish off the finalized micro with another round or two of epoxy wipes to clean up the scratches and any pinholes.

Back near the firewall, I used painters tape to create a template for the left CS spar “wing” (outrigger, exposed area… whatever the term) to allow me to transfer it into Fusion 360 CAD.

Which I did next for both left and right side CS spar “wing” areas.  My focus is on these to knock out first, which in turn will allow me to finish off the wing root forward heat shield on each side.

Although I grabbed this pic well after 9pm, the shop temp was in the mid 90’s (note fan). Here I’m once again using the plasma cutting table as a plotter to gin up some thick paper templates for the left and right CS spar “wings” on each side of the firewall.

I’ll note that there’s a way to edit the G-code that inputs a pause after each hole circle is drawn to allow me to lift the Sharpie to keep the line from being drawn between holes, obviously making the final diagram much cleaner.  But since these are merely temporary templates, I didn’t take (waste IMO) the time to modify the G-code and simply pressed forward.

Here are the plotted and cut-out left and right CS spar “wing” templates in place, with minor tweaks required for both… which I’ll knock out tomorrow.  I’ll note these templates will be used for cutting the Fiberfrax that will get Hi-temp RTV’d into place.  Then, with the CAD drawings dialed in, I’ll use those to plasma cut the thin aluminum coverings to protect the Fiberfrax.

Heat be damned!  Pressing forward!