RV-14 Build

Today I got up very early and did the fiberglassing work. I had prepared last night by getting everything ready and watching the vans videos one more time.

Everything went fairly smoothly and I was happy with how it turned out. I used all but one of the thinnest pieces of glass to make the shape. I added a few pieces to build up a couple of low spots across the center. The radius looked very close in the end, and I’m hopeful it will turn out well.

The whole set of steps took just under 4 hours. One error I know I made was placing the masking tape on the forward side, too close to the edge. The first layer of glass was wider than necessary, and overlapped the masking tape. The masking tape is sitting on top of electrical tape which defines the forward edge. I think it will be ok, as the whole forward edge gets sanded away to a feathered edge anyway, so I will just have more sanding to do than I otherwise would have.

Today I cut out all of the fiberglass pieces per the plans. Then I cleaned the surface where the layup will go, with the isopropyl alcohol.

I used a pizza cutter, but probably should have gotten a fabric cutting knife instead. The pizza cutter worked ok, if you put significant down force on it while rolling.

I didn’t have much time today (or this past week), but I was able to fabricate a Redius Gauge template, and cut out the paper templates for the fiberglass sheets.

I also received some Dacron tape “ply peel” to use on the next steps.

Tonight I sanded down the second round of microballoons and ended up with a decent result. I then cleaned the area with isopropyl alcohol.

I used more pigment than with the first round, so I’ve ended up with a two-tone color in a couple of places. Hopefully nothing that will be visible when it’s all said and done.

Tonight I sanded down the microballoons that are filling the void at the front of the windscreen. I found a couple of low spots, so I filled those with another round of epoxy and microballoons.

Tonight I started the canopy fairing by mixing up some micro balloons and filling the void that is formed at the front edge of the canopy where it meets the forward canopy skin.

I added some black pigment to the resin to darken the mixture, as it will be partially visible from the inside.

The process was pretty straightforward. I first cleaned the entire area with isopropyl alcohol, then applied the mixture. I smoothed the mixture using a crafting stick, and left it to set overnight.

Today I finished installing the canopy clips. At first I thought 3 would be plenty, but as I installed the clips, the canopy/skin gap shifted around necessitating more clips. I ended up with 7 installed, and an nice tight contact all the way around the front of the canopy.

Yesterday I moved the canopy back onto the fuselage, closed and locked it, attached a ratchet strap, and tightened up the fasteners along each side. Doing it myself, I had to attach an extension to my socket set handle so I could bold the nuts and use the screw driver at the same time.

Tonight I worked on the canopy clips, dimpling, cutting, trimming the canopy and then match drilling holes. It’s getting late so I’ll finish up the clips tomorrow.

Tonight I countersunk and riveted the wear strips, then made and test-fit the canopy hinge covers.

The hinge covers needed some minor adjustment to fit. I needed to file the edges of the F-01455C seal angles to allow the hinge covers to slide past with no interference. Mostly it was removing pro seal that had bulged into the gap, then maybe half a mm off one side.

Tonight I painted the rear canopy seal, seal retainers. Then I installed the screws and hardware along the back edge of the canopy.

I then fabricated the canopy wear strips and match drilled to the canopy side rails.

I had forgotten to dimple the last two holes on the canopy side skins, but luckily the underlying canopy rail had been countersunk (thanks Dad!), so I could easily dimple the skin in place using my hand squeezer.