hey guys,

the side area of the plane is roughly 880 square inches. Now the part that's glassed is a bit less, and then you have the curves and BS to also take into account.....

I'm fairly good with math, but my calc is a bit rusty. So I can guess. I guess about 1200 square inches, more if you glass the rudder and exhaust area (don't glass the area under the chin cowl on an electric!)

And I totally 110% concur with Dean on the cloth. I have been using the .5 glass for a long time, but lately got some .7 from CST and it's SO much easier to work with, and I am not sure about the weight.

Here is my take on the weight:

From what I have seen over the years, no matter what you do, your base is going to be X amount of work and X amount of weight when you're all done. Mark Atwood did some tests on this and came to pretty much the same conclusion. But there are 3 steps where you can make a significant difference:

1. Seal the plane and THIN THE RESIN
2. Use micro balloons to initially help fill the weave
3. Do NOT get lazy sanding. Leave that primer in the floor

From there, use a single stage paint and don't use a clear coat unless you're doing the natural carbon canopy look.

-Mike