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quote:
ORIGINAL: tph1
When you did the epoxy finish on the hor. and vert stab., did you thin the 30 min. epoxy or prep the balsa any way before starting it? thanks, Tom
Tom,
I just did the vertical stab with the epoxy and about ½” out from the fillets on the root area of the horizontal stab. The horizontal stab will be covered with Monokote. The vertical stab balsa was sanded smooth like you would to prepare for any finish. The 30 minute epoxy was applied with a squeegee and the epoxy was not thinned. The balsa surface absorbs a small amount of the epoxy and on the first coat the idea is to squeegee most of the epoxy off other that what has been absorbed into the surface. After the first coat sets the surface of the balsa is very hardened with the epoxy. Before you start sanding the epoxy it must be fully cured and hard to make it sandable. You might try the process on a scrap piece of balsa before you start on your aircraft but it isn’t very complicated.
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OK thanks. I think I will experiment with it on a scrap first but I think I'm going to paint the hor. stab on my Temptation. I only want to cut the trim scheme once and painting the stab would help that. Tom
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It looks a lot more like it does now than it did when I first started!
Posts: 2942
Joined: 5/25/2004 From: _ , USA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: tph1
OK thanks. I think I will experiment with it on a scrap first but I think I'm going to paint the hor. stab on my Temptation. I only want to cut the trim scheme once and painting the stab would help that. Tom
That will work fine too. The epoxy finish process is pretty light and requires very little primmer to prepare for paint. I usually paint the horizontal stab too but I thought I would use MonoKote this time like I did on my Tipo.
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Builder and flyer of high performance acrobatic R/C aircraft and a proud member of VR/CS. Made in China = no sale!
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I just tried it on a scrap piece. I put it on with a plastic cake icing spreader and it looks like it did well. I will know later when it dries. thanks again
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It looks a lot more like it does now than it did when I first started!
Posts: 2942
Joined: 5/25/2004 From: _ , USA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: tph1
I just tried it on a scrap piece. I put it on with a plastic cake icing spreader and it looks like it did well. I will know later when it dries. thanks again
Sounds good! The key thing is to let the epoxy setup real well (usually over night) so it is easer to sand and use fresh sand paper to sand each coat.
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Builder and flyer of high performance acrobatic R/C aircraft and a proud member of VR/CS. Made in China = no sale!
Posts: 2942
Joined: 5/25/2004 From: _ , USA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: tph1
Did you do any filling before the epoxy? I'm going to do the bottom this afternoon and the top first coat tomorrow if it looks good.
No I didn’t use any other filler other than the micro balloons for the fillets. It works best to let the epoxy soak into the bare balsa. You should only need two to three coats to make it very smooth and ready for a light primmer coat. It’s important to sand it well between coats. If you find that you have some gaps in the balsa glue joints I’d use some micro balloons mixed with epoxy to fill them.
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quote:
ORIGINAL: tph1
What grit sandpaper did you use?
I used 215 dry paper to start and then used 220 dry before the primmer. The epoxy tends to clog the paper so you need to change to a new piece of paper often.
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After the vertical stabilizer epoxy finish was completed I covered the horizontal stabilizer, which will be covered with MonoKote, with plastic wrap and taped it off. I then washed the outside of the fiberglass fuselage with warm water and dish detergent (making sure no water got inside the fuselage) to remove any finger print oils or other contaminates from the surface. I dried the fuselage well and then sprayed on a light coat of the LusterKote primer and then a couple of heaver coats. I consider the first primer coat expendable because it really helps to highlight any areas that need more sanding and finish work. I was extremely happy to see that the fiberglass repair work I did looks excellent, very smooth and straight
One of the advantages of the fiberglass fuselages like the Howard Engineering fuselages that are not jell coated is that any pin holes in the surface are readily visible on the first primmer coat. Often with jell coating they hidden under the thin layer of jell waiting to break though the jell to expose a big nasty pin hole. Also the non jell coated fuselages let you see through the glass when you are installing firewalls, etc. There were very few pin holes and I filled them with automotive glaze. I use an artist spatula to apply the gaze. The artist spatula is used for mixing oil paint and doing certain types of oil painting. It has a very thin faxable blade and is a perfect tool for the glaze. The images below show the first primer coat and one of the pin holes that I circled with a red line.
To be continued..
< Message edited by 8178 -- 1/3/2005 12:37:21 AM >
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Builder and flyer of high performance acrobatic R/C aircraft and a proud member of VR/CS. Made in China = no sale!
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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> Pattern Flying >> Classic Pattern Flying >> RE: Howard Engineering - Kwik Fli III – Build 
RE: Howard Engineering - Kwik Fli III – Build - 
