At 04:33 AM 9/4/2009, you wrote: > I really believe that putting the slurry on >the foam and then laying up the glass works much better. Then you have a >solid surface to work with. You are going to have plenty of opportunities >to sand, so why not cut out one of them. > >Daniel R. Heath
____________________________________________________________________________________ The real secret to getting the glass right is to get the foam right to start with. If you are having to use a lot of micro to fill the foam to get the correct contour then you need to remove the foam and start over. The only micro you should need is to seal the foam so it doesn't soak up too much resin when wetting out the glass. It should be of a consistency that spreads easily. It is entirely probable that you will have small void along the edges to fill with micro but remove the excess before it cures. I used the process called "hard shelling" which is to seal the foam first, let it cure, and then do the glass lay up. It worked out just fine for me and caused no additional sanding other then one or two "swipes" with sand paper to remove prickles that tended to snag the glass if you move it around on the foam. My reasoning to go the "hard shell" route was to break the job down to simpler steps for one man operation, especially on the wings. I could seal the foam in one step and then glass in one step. You can take breaks on the foam sealing process at any time you wish as you are not rushed to get the glass on and wetted out. I did a couple of simple test and found no detectable difference in the bonding of the glass to the foam with either method. Try a couple of test blocks for yourself. Lay some glass on a one square foot of foam using each method. When they are both cured, peel off the glass. I'm betting you will see the same amount of foam on the bonded side of the glass with each method. 350 hours of flight time is also enough to convince me it is an acceptable method. Larry Flesner
