The Rocket Formerly Known as Black
Step Five
Fuselage Fiberglassing and Finishing
Each layer of glass is comprised of three sections of 6 ounce cloth. It is applied one section at a time, using the fin markings as a guide for application. The photo to the right is the first section of the first layer of glass. Note that the fuselage is mounted on the motorized Airframe Tube Fiber Glassing Rotisserie Stand (although it was not rotating during this phase of the glassing process).
The first layer of fiberglass was applied with the edges of each section of fabric overlapping at the fin markings. This layer was sanded smooth after the resin cured, with special attention paid to the overlaps. The second layer was applied, this time with each section of fabric centered on the fin markings so that the overlap joints would be in a different spot of the airframe. This second layer was sanded smooth after the resin cured, again with special attention paid to the overlaps. Then a final layer of resin was liberally applied while the airframe was rotating on the Airframe Tube Fiber Glassing Rotisserie Stand. This was left slowly rotating until the resin cured in order to eliminate pooling, drips, or sags.
Before final sanding, I put the nose cone in place and traced around the base of the cone onto the edge of the fiberglass. The cone was removed and the top edge of the airframe carefully sanded to shape. Then the entire airframe was sanded, and Bondo Spot Putty was applied with a spatula to fill minor abnormalities in the curvature of the fiberglass. This process was repeated over and over until I was too exhausted to do it another time.
Truthfully, I had dreaded the sanding task so much that I built a new tool to help -- and it worked so well that the airframe was beautfully smooth in no time. For details, see my article on the High Speed Sanding Lathe.
TRFKAB Index
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