Bristol County Radio Control Club Forum

Start of Epoxy Coating the Mars
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Did the bottom of the hull today with 2 - 3oz, pieces of cloth with epoxy. The Epoxy I used is Home Depot - Parks- Super Glaze. Works well but has a slow cure. If sunny tommorow I will do the sides with 0.75 oz. cloth. I will air dry outdoors with the sun beating on it. My garage is cool and high humidity which retards drying. That will slow the job down some.

I found a company with 2 quarts for about the same price $23 and the shipping is $16 to my area. 1 gallon is $39.50 Same shipping if under 10 lbs. Which it should be. Remember this is a hard table glazing epoxy and it works fine for my models. I read some good reports on a forum on this brand. Read instructions carefully. 9 times out of 10 it is a bad mix that gives problems. Mix by weight or equal measuring cups like those plastic pill things used in hospitals for a precise measure. Mix a good 5 minutes thoroughly. If you do not trust it, go with West System and pay double.
http://www.shopmaninc.com/kk121.html

I use a postage scale to get equal parts. I usually mix up a couple ounces at a time in a 3 oz. plastic cup. Set the scale to zero with the cup. Pour in Part A - 1 oz. then add the other Part B - 1 oz. part to read 2 oz.. Then I mix it up.

How about it readers. You are allowed to ask questions and leave comments throughout the Forum.

Wow Bob!.... heaps and heaps of progress I see!
Can't wait to hopefully see her fly this summer... simply an amazing build!

Wing Epoxy - Fuselage Primer Paint
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Hi Tom Thanks. Here is more.
I got to finish the mid wing and nacelles today with epoxy and cloth skin.. The fuselage got primed. It has to be spackled lightly in a few places. It is pretty smooth though. I may do the wing tomorrow.

I bought some flat Americana Blue at Home Depot yesterday. It is their Behr brand. I like Walmart craft paint for lightness though. The Behr has color chips so I can nearly get the paint mixed right on to the shade I want. I bought the 8oz. samplers they have on the counter just under $4. It is a good size. The paint is flat and is listed as a finish paint with built in primer. It sprayed very well after I thinned it down over 50% with windshield cleaner for my airbrush. The window washer has alcohol in it to prevent freezing in a car and makes a good thinner.

The epoxy blended the Depron foam very well. you would have a hard time figuring what is wood and what is foam. So much for the purist balsa builders. Their moaning will have no basis here for this type of aircraft.

Continue to do sanding and priming today. I have the fuselage ready for final coat and the wing is just primed and light spackle. It is coming out real nice. The ing floats are sanded and ready to paint also.

I believe I will have 2 seperate orders coming in tomorrow. More epoxy and my light weight 0.7oz. cloth. I can do the rest of the wings and tail soon.

Nacelle Air Intakes
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Got my air intake and air outlet to help cool the electronics functional.They should all work very well. The plastic food storage cowlings are starting to look better now. All my new glass cloth and epoxy came in so I can finish up the glass coating now.

I got all 4 motors worked on and fitted. I had to remove all the threaded shafts and replace with solid straight shafts with some ground in modifications. it took over 4 hours for mods. They all are now collet prop adapters.

I have the bottom of the outer wings to epoxy now. The rudders and elevator has epoxy outside the rudders and the top of the elevator. The inside rudders and elevator bottoms will be polyurethane and glass cloth. They are less prone to damages. This will help keep the tail weight down some also.

The next sunny day I am going to put the finish blue on some parts. Saturday maybe.

Looks like I'm due to come by again, always better in person......Don.

Beautiful work Bob. Another beauty. This might look great at the static show too. Give people an idea of what goes into a scale aircraft.

Ted

Ted,
Thank you sir. I will bring this and Emily if they fit in my truck. I am planning just homebuilt foanies. I do not know how much of the finish paint will be done yet. I still have panel lines and decals to figure out. Very time consuming here with all the sanding and painting still going on right now.

Base Finish Coats On
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Spent the day mostly spraying and sanding the off white color. The original colors had a white bottom. I have to do a little more touch up tomorrow on the white. I am trying to locate some graphic ink pens that will not skip on the paint when I draw the panel lines. There is an ingrediant that makes it skip in the paint. I had those problems on my other plane last year.

Hi Don, I just saw your reply. Actually you or anyone in the club are always welcome to come by here if you are down this way. Maybe I can help someone with build info or just BS a storm. It should be about readyy to view at the airport next week, Still got electronics to finish also.