Today was the day I finally did it – I convinced myself to stop overanalyzing and just go ahead and get the glass work done for these pin covers. I’ve been sort of putting this off for a while, probably because there’s a sort of finality to actually mixing up fiberglass – though the reality is that you can cut/sand off pretty much anything and redo it. I’d rather avoid that, though…
I did have one epiphany since the last work session, though. At that point I was wondering about dealing with the covers not quite sitting flush with the cowl (the curvature doesn’t match 100%), and I’d had the thought to have them sit a little proud and then add micro to get the contour right.
The epiphany was to basically do the opposite – set the covers so they were flush at the highest points, and then sand off the fiberglass to get the contour I want. In one sense, it’ll be tougher – sanding an actual layup is a lot more work than sanding micro – but on the other hand, I don’t have to deal with coating the front of the covers with release agent, slapping on a ton of micro, and then dealing with the inevitable voids. The other concern could be sanding all the way through the layup, but since I’m adding material on the inside to create the flange behind the covers, that’s not a real concern.
So I got to it today. First up were a couple of prep steps – the dummy covers used for fitting needed a few coats of wax to act as a release agent, and the insides of the cowl needed cleanup. Alternating between the two tasks worked pretty well – put a coat of wax on the covers, then go to town inside the cowl with the Dremel on the flox I added a while back. Once I was happy with that, I got the cowl assembled on the work table, and paused for a bit to allow the wax to dry.
Next was taping the dummy covers in place. The holes are snug enough to grip the covers just a bit, which means the tape isn’t doing a ton of work; it’s just there to help ensure the covers don’t move while the glass work is happening. This was also my opportunity to get the flush/proud/inset positioning I wanted. This photo of a cover taped in place highlights how the ends of the cover at relatively flush, but the middle is inset. The overhead lighting really accentuates the resulting shadow:
On the inside of the cowl, the flat backs of the covers don’t match the cowl really at all, so the first step is to mix up some micro and smear it around the edges of the cover; this provides a relatively even surface to top with glass plies later on. I was a little worried about moving the covers around while doing this, but they stayed in place very nicely:
While that micro was getting tacky, I moved on to the glass portion. I’d already measured before to determine the proper size for the glass pieces, so I used that to cut some glass and do the tried-and-true prepress technique – wetting out the glass plies between two layers of plastic, squeegeeing the excess off, and cutting out the pieces I needed. Then I just got to lean way inside the cowl – again – and stick them in place. Some work with gloved fingers and a chip brush worked out air bubbled, and then it was time to sit back and wait for it all to cure:
Next up will be removing the tape, drilling the screw holes, and then I get to lean inside the cowl yet again and re-separate the halves – at the moment they’re bonded together. I’m a little nervous to see how things look with the real covers in place, but I should get that chance tomorrow, I think. Another one of those moment-of-truth situations…