RE: Thinning Epoxy Resin
Lee,
Your C114 fuse looks great! I think Ed cleared up what I was trying to say, which was just that using a slower hardener will offset the increase in curing rate you see when you heat the epoxy. The result is that you have a lower viscosity for better wet-out, and you still have plenty of time to do the work.
FWIW, I did have one "negative" experience when thinning with alcohol to apply light FG over a balsa-skinned wing. Not knowing any better, I picked up "denatured alcohol" from the drug store. I didn't read the label because I figured the stuff would be what I wanted. It turns out that the denaturing agent, rather than being some other alcohol ethyl/methyl, was some form of petrolium distillate. This resulted in a rubbery finished product. I actually experimented with this, once I realized what had happened. I tried using the "denatured alcohol" as a plasticizer to make some flexible FG props. That actually worked fairly well, but the strength seemed to be reduced considerably as compared to props made with un-thinned epoxy.
-David