REFLECTOR: wing frosting

[Keith Hallsten]

Matt,

Superfill IS epoxy and glass bubbles, just with the glass microballoons
premixed into each of the epoxy components.  They can get an extremely high
proportion of the balloons in because they use high-shear mixers - that
makes for a nice light filler.  Another advantage is that there is no glass
balloon drifting around for you to inhale, since it's already mixed into the
goop.

Keith Hallsten


-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of matt
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 7:29 PM
To: reflector at tvbf.org
Subject: REFLECTOR: wing frosting

Any cracking issues with using Superfill for the wings instead of epoxy &
glass bubbles?
Matt



Yea, I've finished layup A,B,C, & D on the wingletts...
Now I get to smooth out the wings.
In the 6 years it's taken me to get to this point,
I no longer have enough AlphaPoxy to make the "cake
frosting".
As a rough guess, how much do I need to do the frosting
on a set of 173 wings?

Is Alphapoxy / micro balloon still the best combo?

And Oh by the way...

CONGRATS Al, for geting the restrictions off your bird.

It's the stories from the ones that are flying, that
keep giving me the motivation to keep building.




Noel,

 I decided to save some weight and some sanding nightmares (according to
what
I read).  I ended up using "Superfill" on the wings, winglets and canard. At
least that is what I started with. I got the 3 Gallon kit (quite spendy) and
was very frugal in application.
  I used a big taping knife to press & fill the weave in the wings, the dip
by the spar, and the trailing edge in the wings/ailerons & the larger low
areas
in the surfaces.
  I used the whole 3 gallon kit to do all that. The stuff I sanded off was
barely enough to fill one of the mixing cups that you get with the kit. So,
there wasn't much waste. It is incredibly light, and that is always a bonus.
It is
also very easy to sand.

Once that was done, I used a wet towel and a light to see how things looked.
(Kind of an instant guide coat, if you are familiar with that).  They
actually
looked pretty good. I ended up finishing the rest with Microfill as a filler
to the epoxy. It sands Much easier than the MicroBalloons, and it is also
lighter.
Aftert I got that pretty close, I used MetalGlaze (don't let the name fool
you) to take care of some of the pinholes & such. A coat of primer
afterwards
and it is just about ready for paint. I'll touch up everything and guide
coat it
before I get to paint.

Just my path.  Hope it helps.

 Kurt

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