Matt's RV-8 Project



Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date:  1-24-2010
Number of Hours:  8.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Fiberglass Windscreen Bezel Fabrication - Part 02

Finally, last weekend, I decided that I was just going to redo the bezel, for better or worse and hope that I wasn't going to regret it. Anything could go wrong doing the bezel over again. I could end up cracking the windscreen ($1000 replacement), I could slip and sand up into the main screen part ($1000 replacement), or, it could just end up looking worse that it did in the first place ($1000 replacement).

So, I started sanding down all of the primer and fiberglass from the initial job. This took the good part of a whole day. I got it down to the original glass layups and filler then sanding a little more. I spent the good part of another day carefully marking the new line around the windscreen, this time about 1/4" taller to overlap the previous fairing. I made double sure that there was no dip in the center and that the left and right sides were the same height. I even crawled into the pilot's seat and looked at it from that perspective to make double sure it was even. But bear in mind, you can really only be "reasonably" certain you've got a good, symmetrical line. You really don't know for sure until its all done and the bezel is done!

I sanded the Plexi up to the new line with 60 grit sand paper. I cut a bunch more fiberglass cloth strips as before and laid them all out for easy access during the layup process. I ultimately mixed up 3.5 batches of three-squirt resin jobs to get all of the layers of cloth saturated. All in all, the layups went better than I thought they would. Just don't try to move anything once its laid down.

The next day I had quite a sanding job ahead of me. On the second try layup, I had added quite a bit more resin and cloth, but had to sand a good deal of it down. Sanding and shaping took the good part of a whole day and boy were my hands and arms tired.

Cont Next Log...
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Bezel Boundries Marked

Bezel Boundries Marked

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Plexi & Metal Sanded Down With 60 Grit

Plexi & Metal Sanded Down With 60 Grit

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Plexi & Metal Sanded Down With 60 Grit

Plexi & Metal Sanded Down With 60 Grit

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