Chapter 25 – More component sanding

I started out today sanding and contouring the last round of West 410 application on the RAM air scoop/hell hole hatch cover.

I’ll admit that my RAM scoop isn’t a perfect concentric circle, but it’s pretty darn close and will work fine for what I need it to do.

Again, here’s another shot of the RAM air scoop/hell hole hatch cover near-final sanding.

That being said, I did need to do a few final/minor touchups with another round of West 410.

I then did another round of sanding on the epoxy-wiped bottom cowling, this time focusing primarily on and around the right armpit scoop.

The biggest challenge on sanding down the cured epoxy wipes on the bottom cowling is the channels on the inner and upper sides of the armpit scoops (in the pic here that would be the left and bottom side).  This effort includes sanding both sides of the channel, which would be the surface of the cowling along with the inside face of the armpit scoop.

In hindsight I should have A) only did 2-3 rounds of epoxy wipes max, and B) sanded the cured epoxy wipes sooner, as I have previously mentioned.

Finally, there is the aft “floor/wall” of these channels, which is the original flange that is floxed & glassed to attach the armpit scoops to the cowling surface.  These are obviously a challenge to sand since the only way in there is to wrap sandpaper around some type of stick or pad… patience and persistency being the rule in sanding all of these internal armpit scoop areas.

Since I’m wet sanding, I do most of my sanding outside.  Well, with the days getting shorter and colder it was darker (even with outdoor lights on) for a good bit of my sanding session.  I did a good 1.5 hours before calling it a night, and as you can see in the pic below I was not able to finish the left side.  This shot gives you a good idea of what the cured epoxy wipes look like pre-sanding.

I did do a fair bit more organizing and cleaning in the shop –well over an hour’s worth– so I’m slowly getting there.  Pressing forward!

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