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Glassing the wind screen

Gerald Clabots

Active Member
Does anyone know of a website with a good discription of glassing the wind screen to the fuselage or a good written discription.
Thanks
Gerry
 
Your canopy looks awesome Jeff. (Sorry Randy, I have a tip-up.) Your site is going to come in handy for me very shortly. I'm planning on working on the canopy fairing soon. I was just wondering if the fiberglass should be cut on the diagonal, and your site affirmed that it should be.

One question. It looks like you had the fiberglass overlap the electrical tape at the front. You then had to cut back the fiberglass to remove the tape? Is that the best way to do it? Or would it be better to space the tape further out?
 
Thanks Dave. The glass was laid right butt up to the edge of the purple electrical tape. I then sanded it smooth at the edge and then replaced the tape for additional filler. There is no doubt many different ways you can go about it but I went with Jims recommendations and it worked great! That bad boy is all painted and ret-to-go.
 
Jeff,

When you cut your fiberglass, was it a straight piece or did you make a template and cut a curved piece? I have access to some bi-directional glass so I dont know if I still need to cut on a diagonal. Mine is about ready to put some glass down any day now.

- Scott
 
I just cut multiple straight strips on the diagonal. Seems like a waste but you do what you gotta do.
 
Scott Will said:
Jeff,

When you cut your fiberglass, was it a straight piece or did you make a template and cut a curved piece? I have access to some bi-directional glass so I dont know if I still need to cut on a diagonal. Mine is about ready to put some glass down any day now.

- Scott
Scott,
The bi-directional glass has equal strand count in two directions, generally 90 degrees to each other.
In order to get the strip to move in the directions you want and to follow the compound curves, it has to be placed in a bias manner - meaning it must be cut so the strands are at 45deg to the edge.

If you try to apply it on the canopy with one of the weaves parallel to the intersection line, the wrinkles will be impossible to work out.

So, yes. The bidirectional cloth must be cut on the 45 to the weave and it is cut as a straight piece. It will easily form to the curves necessary.

-mike
 
Thanks for the tip guys. What's the purpose of Dacron? I assume you can get it in the aviation isle of fabric stores?

I have an electrical tape edge defined. I've seen some people use multiple layers. Is that a good practice?

I've got a nice fillet and and am ready to start the glass. Should be long.
 
Yes use at least 3 layers of electrical tape to protect the Plexi when sanding the edge smooth. The Dacron is used to smooth out the surface of the glass and it helps absorb extra resin.
 
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Composit info

I am assuming the comment about "polyester" is refering to a cloth material, that is commonly refered to as "peal ply", not flock--or flox, it is used to create a bondable surface for the next layer, it also helps to smooth out the layer it is on, but its use for absorbing excess resin is nill.

after the layup cures, and just before putting on the next layer, you peal off the polyester, the resluting serface is ready to be bonded to without any sanding etc.

Flox is a milled cotton fiber material added to resin to create a paste, used structurally, unlike micro ballons, which are not very strong, when fillets etc need to be built up.

Mike Starkey, -10 working on tail,
previous Dragonfly builder
 
Is it OK to use microballoons to make the fillet before putting the glass on? That's what I used. I figured the glass would give it strength. Keep in mind, I bonded the front of the windshield on with structural adhesive. So I should be OK there.

Keep the good tips coming.
 
Fairing

You can make this a little easier by purchasing 2" and 3" glass tape from www.cstsales.com. It is called tape but really isn't "tape." This stuff has no woven seams to stick up and conforms nicely. No need to make cuts to conform on contours.

I first completed the initial securing with Super-fil. Then went to epoxy and micro filler to get the contour nice. When exactly how I wanted I layed in the 2" glass over the seam and sponged off the excess epoxy. Let cure, sanded, cleaned with denatured alcohol and laid on the 3" followed by another 3". Sponged off the excess epoxy and let cure. Sand it all down nice. I removed the electrical tape forming the "no go" line and retaped about an 1/8" from the previous line. Sand the canopy to this line.

Now begin the fill process. I used Super-fil and faired in all the edges of the glass and the weave of the glass. Sand and repeat as necessary. When you think you have it, use some high build primer in a squirt can and prime the area. This will let you know where you have work to do yet. I go to Rage and Evercoat 416 filler for this process.

Feather sand the filler to your tape lines. Spot fill until you are satisfied.

Ain't gonna happen overnight. Take your time and it will turn out great.

Darwin N. Barrie
Chandler AZ
 
The dacron fabric, also known as peel ply, is placed on top of the lay up and serves at least a couple of purposes. Lay it on and smooth it on with a sponge or credit card, making sure you have all bubbles out and leaving some edge all around your lay up. It will keep the resin from running and once the resin has cured, you peel off the fabric and it leaves a much smoother and easier to sand surface. If you have creases or wrinkles in the fabric, they will transfer to the cured product and you will have to sand them out, so iron out any wrinkles or creases before you start.
 
Wow I didn't know anyone was reading my site. Thanks. You have a great site, too, Dave. And of course the totally cool runwayfinder. It's hard updating the website lately with new baby and lots of other stuff going on. I'm lucky when I get to go out to the workshop!

Last night I went to a fabric store for some Dacron. They looked at me like I had 3 eyes. They pointed me to some fabric that I ended up buying. It just had "polyester" on the tab. It looks and feels like coat liner stuff. I might try a small section and see how it turns out.
 
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LOL! Dave thats Jims Andrews Website. He's the one who is in the pics on my site and helped me with my Canopy fiberglassing. Definetly class-A work Jim does. Man when I got my QB I just knew it could not be done any better.....until I saw Jims work in person. He does such a great job its almost like a machine built it. If you saw the pics of is last RV-8A then you can see what Im talking about.

PS- Scott when are you gonna let me stop by and see your plane? I'm back in Atlanta every week Tues-Fri till November. I'd even give you a hand with that fiberglass work.

-Jeff
 
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Van's method

At Osh a couple of years ago Van's had the RV-10 fuselage with a partially finished canopy, with some hints about what to do - see pictures below.

glassingthewindscreen1small1no.jpg

glassingthewindscreen2small4xu.jpg

glassingthewindscreen3small0xc.jpg


Hope this helps, Pete
 
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"Several" layers of fiberglass in that picture of the RV-10 is an understatement. I count at least 12 layers. Yikes. I wasn't thinking it would take nearly that many. I think I'd rather build up with microballoons and then do 3-4 layers of fiberglass.

The dacron "peel-ply" can be found at Spruce in various widths.

Hey, you're right Jeff. That is the same guy. Between Jim's site and your pictures, I'm feeling confident enough to take this on. I was going to try to take a fiberglass course this last summer, but SportAir didn't offer it this year. :(

Dave
 
Resizing images

Thanks, Mickey, the link seems to work. Pete

Glass is lighter than filler, also makes the sanding easier. A friend has just done his canopy and used a black dye in the resin (from Spruce, I think), makes it look much better from the inside.
 
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