ORIGINAL: Spychalla Aircraft
James,
Nice project. I am biased of course because it has my parts on it, but still nice project. Regarding glass on your fuse. Having just put a cowl on my own TF Mustang recently I have an opinion regarding the procedure. I bonded on the cowl, filled the gap flush with lightweight Ultimate Bondo (Auto Body Filler) then overlapped the glass about 1/2 inch onto the cowl. This created a situation where I had to sand and feather that edge in. I would not do it this way again. My recommendation would be to glass the fuse first and trim the edge, then bond on the cowl and the razorback. Filling the seam without the overlap will be easier. Putty can just extend to whichever side is lower. You will have a hard surface to sand against with the glassed balsa versus just balsa alone. Most of the putty is sanded off so weight is not an issue. Just my recommendation and the way I plan to do my next one. Leo
Hi Leo,
I was still thinking about what to do there. I was considering attaching the nose then laying then glass along to whole length; nose and all. This way I won't need to use Bondo. I figure if she ever goes nose in on a landing and there is a heap of Bondo it might crack; if it's all glass it should be able to take a reasonable knock. What's your thoughts on this method?