Haste makes…. Lesson learned.

Short post for what seems like an eternity of sanding today. Started with sanding the primer on the canard.

As expected, there were a few places that spot putty was required. However, many fewer places than the wings. I attribute that to the hours spent on the contour of the canard.

Then I went to the left wing. I spent no less than 4 hours sanding the whole top surface. I was going slow because I though that this coat of primer would be the final coat, so I was careful. As luck would have it, with the exception of about 4 square inches of touch up priming, the left wing is done. It will be in it’s airworthy primer tomorrow. Win.

Then I started in on contour sanding he epoxy wipe on the elevators. It took a long time. But I’m happy with the results.

Here is where haste got the better of me. I wanted to make up for missing my goal yesterday and wanted to get 3 coats of primer on the canard and all of the control surfaces. So I washed, rinsed and let dry.

The first coat of primer went as expected. With the wings, by the time I got back around to the other wing, the primer was dry enough to do coat number two. It wasn’t the case with the canard and control surfaces.

Since it was getting late and I still had primer in the paint tray, what did my genius self do? Of course I proceeded with coat two.

It was a mess. The previous round started pulling up a bit. So I tried a heavier coat. That seemed to work. So I proceeded on all surfaces to be primed. But when I got done I realized that this was a mistake.

The premature second coat amplified the texture that the roller left, plus left runs. Great! To add insult to injury, priming at night is a magnet for bugs. They love the bright white surface. Well at least at this point I learned my lesson and called it a night.

Good thing primer sands like a dream compared to everything else. A bit of sanding in the morning and I can prime again. Nothing is ruined, but I did waste some time and material. The stated purpose, from the FAA, for experimental airplanes is, after all, education, right?!?!?!