I joke with Weasel that it’s not an airplane project until you have made every part twice, and in my case sometimes more than that. So far on the gear intersection fairings we are on the second part for each one.
Jon was able to come over today and he worked mostly on the fairings. Starting with making dams and pour foaming the intersection. Special care was taken to ensure that we didn’t get any foam in the newly created gaps that allow for main gear flex.
Jon and I each took a gear leg and contoured out the intersection fairing. We had remnants of the previously existing fairing to match to, which helped slightly. But basically the shape we were looking for was minimum flat plate (cross sectional area), especially forward of the max thickness of the gear strut. Then it should be an expanding radius fillet as it proceeds aft. Once It was contoured, it looked like this.
We prepped for glassing by cutting a gap between the fuselage side and gear side of the fairing. This gap was wide enough for sheet wax that made up the seam as well as some flox that seals off the foam and provides the strength for what would otherwise be a cantilevered edge of skin. Then it was laid up with 2 plied Bid and peel ply. The other side of the fairing will be done tomorrow with a flox trailing edge.
In addition to the fairing, I was also able to do a bunch more sanding on the cowl. It is very close to being ready for primer, and I am quite proud of how the surface is turning out. Hopefully I can do that Wednesday.
Lastly I was able to clean up the extra fill I added around the cooling air inlets. These required some filets/radius where the scoop meets the fuselage side and where it meets the strake. I think they turned out pretty well. The fuselage/strake combo is pretty much ready for its final micro light/epoxy wipe treatment.
the Garaggio 