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I glassed the windshield fairing today. A few have posted questions about what to use. For anybody who has fiberglassed before, you won't learn anything here.
For those who haven't, I will tell you what I bought, and how I did it. Most of it I already had, but I did buy a roll of fiberglass from ACS.
First you have to get the windshield in the correct orientation. I won't go into that because each will be slightly different. Heat molded plastic on a heated welded fuselage. There will be some variation.
I used 2" blue masking tape, some PVA mold release (car wax will work), 4" fiberglass tape from ACS (very good quality), and Aeropoxy, although most any brand of laminating resin will work. Polyester resin would also work, and is cheaper. By the time you get the correct ratio for a long working time you might have wasted enough glass and resin that epoxy might have been cheaper. Use "slow" hardener as this will take a while and it is best to do it in one go. Not one batch of epoxy, I used 4 batches. But just keep laminating until you are done. It will come out better, and you will only make a mess one time. I use cheap plastic cups, but if you are only doing one job, you might want to splurge and get the fancy cups with the measurements printed on the cup. You won't need a lot of them. I use plastic silverware for mixing, and the cheapest disposable small paint brushes I can find. I use "plumbers" rosin brushes.
Old cloths, disposable gloves, sharp scissors, acetone and paper towel should be kept handy. Clean the scissors at the end with acetone.
I coated the windscreen and boot cowl with masking tape. 70% was very easy. As you go farther aft, the windscreen pulls away from the boot cowl. You will use the tape to bridge the gap. The tape becomes a "mold". You want it to look good. See the picture where the ruler shows a straight line from the windscreen to the boot cowl. You are going to look at this every time you go flying.
I drew a black magic marker around the approximate width of the finished fairing and made sure I covered it up. I will trim it and grind it to shape later. Don't make it too small.
Wax the "mold" so the glass won't stick. Let it dry. I cut the fiberglass tape into 18", 24" and 30' inch strips. Enough for 10 layers. I overlap at least a 1/2", and I stagger the overlaps at random. If you put the overlaps all in one place it will be twice as thick there.
I make up about 6 ounces of resin at a time, and keep making it until I was done.
For those who haven't, I will tell you what I bought, and how I did it. Most of it I already had, but I did buy a roll of fiberglass from ACS.
First you have to get the windshield in the correct orientation. I won't go into that because each will be slightly different. Heat molded plastic on a heated welded fuselage. There will be some variation.
I used 2" blue masking tape, some PVA mold release (car wax will work), 4" fiberglass tape from ACS (very good quality), and Aeropoxy, although most any brand of laminating resin will work. Polyester resin would also work, and is cheaper. By the time you get the correct ratio for a long working time you might have wasted enough glass and resin that epoxy might have been cheaper. Use "slow" hardener as this will take a while and it is best to do it in one go. Not one batch of epoxy, I used 4 batches. But just keep laminating until you are done. It will come out better, and you will only make a mess one time. I use cheap plastic cups, but if you are only doing one job, you might want to splurge and get the fancy cups with the measurements printed on the cup. You won't need a lot of them. I use plastic silverware for mixing, and the cheapest disposable small paint brushes I can find. I use "plumbers" rosin brushes.
Old cloths, disposable gloves, sharp scissors, acetone and paper towel should be kept handy. Clean the scissors at the end with acetone.
I coated the windscreen and boot cowl with masking tape. 70% was very easy. As you go farther aft, the windscreen pulls away from the boot cowl. You will use the tape to bridge the gap. The tape becomes a "mold". You want it to look good. See the picture where the ruler shows a straight line from the windscreen to the boot cowl. You are going to look at this every time you go flying.
I drew a black magic marker around the approximate width of the finished fairing and made sure I covered it up. I will trim it and grind it to shape later. Don't make it too small.
Wax the "mold" so the glass won't stick. Let it dry. I cut the fiberglass tape into 18", 24" and 30' inch strips. Enough for 10 layers. I overlap at least a 1/2", and I stagger the overlaps at random. If you put the overlaps all in one place it will be twice as thick there.
I make up about 6 ounces of resin at a time, and keep making it until I was done.
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