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1. 07:25 AM - Re: Gel Coated Fairings (Speedy11@aol.com)
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| Subject: | Re: Gel Coated Fairings |
Garey,
Yes to all.
I have a mixture of newer and older gel coated fairings. The newer ones
from Vans are epoxy and are not gel coated. I wish they had never gel coated
the old ones. I believe it was done to get a nice looking, smoother product,
but it ends up causing a lot more work and aggravation. The gel coat also
aids in mold release.
My old empennage fairing from Vans is not gel coated, but I bought a
Fairings, etc empennage fairing anyway and did not use the Van's one. All of
my tip
fairings are gel coated and we're grinding off all of the gel coat and
recovering with new glass and then sanding for hours to get something decent.
We
use a belt sander to remove the gel - grit about 60.
I don't believe you need to worry about the paint cracking on the VS
fairing. That fairing is somewhat stiff and flexing shouldn't be much of a problem.
I glassed in the trailing edge of all the tip fairings and that stiffened
them up even more. My upper tip fairing is removable also.
You can see how I did the tip fairings on my web site at _www.rv-8a.net_
(http://www.rv-8a.net) . Go to the 2007 page and scroll down to 24-27 Feb.
If you'll pay for shipping, you can have my Van's empennage fairing. It is
new as I received it and is not gel coated.
Regards,
Stan Sutterfield
Have an "older" Emphennage Kit (circa 1999) that came
with Gel Coated F.G. Fairings.
1) Do the "newer" Kits from Vans still come with the
Gel Coated Fairings ?
2) My understanding from reading the Archieves is
that the Gel Coat is used over Polyester Resin F.G.
parts and not over Epoxy Resin F.G. Parts. Is this
true ?
3) Is it worth buying from Vans the "newer" NON Gel
Coated Fairings (assuming they come that way now) than
trying to work with the existing Gel Coated fairings
that I have ?
4) What is the purpose of the Gel Coat - mold release
?
5) What Grit / Method used - would you recommend to
take off the Gel Coat (and not digging into the F.G.
weave) ?
6) Is it recommended to remove ALL the Gel Coat down
to the F.G. weave so that any "flexing" of the F.G.
fairing will not crack any final Top Coat of paint in
the future ? [My Fairing on the TOP of the VS will be
removable for access to the VOR Antenna - should that
be necessary and could flex during removal and crack
the Top Coat of paint.]
7) Any helpful HINTS on getting a nice Fairing / Skin
edge line where the Fairing meets the Skin and still
keeping the Fairing removable ? [Will be using #6
Screws into Nutplates riveted to the F.G. Fairing]
Appreciate your helpful inputs,
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