Articles

Hour 6 - Sanding the Canard

Details: Category: Quickheads BLOG; Published on Wednesday, 10 September 2008 05:00; Written by Dan Yager; Hits: 749

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As I discussed in the last hour , I am hand sanding the paint off my project to keep down the noise for my mother and father-in-law. However, hand sanding hasn’t turned out to be too bad so far. (Check in with me again in a few more weeks.)

In this clip you’ll see me starting to sand the paint off the top right side of the canard. In the one hour that this clip covers, I managed to sand about 30% of the paint off. The problem is that since the original builder painted the finished plane beige, it gets a little hard for the camera to pick up the color difference between the paint and the micro filler underneath. Rest assured, the difference is more apparent when you’re right down in there working on it though, so I am being careful.

It’s hard to tell, from the time lapse clip above, but I am changing my sandpaper frequently. I managed to throw one piece down on the floor in front of the camera, but the rest are just off camera I guess. I’ll have to remember to put the used pieces out where everyone can see them, so you can get an idea of what’s really involved.

I was trying to maintain my sanding strokes at a 45 degree angle to the leading edge. I would work to the right, and then to the left, and this seemed to take the paint off pretty well. I also consider it good practice for when I eventually apply the dry micro to the airframe before the finish sanding work I’ll have to do.

To make a long story short, I’m holding up pretty well, I don’t have “sander’s elbow” yet. (But I’m working on it!)

The music in this clip is a techno version of “Flight of the Bumblebees.” I know it doesn’t sound a whole lot like the original, but I wanted to keep you all on your toes!

As always, if you see me doing something stupid, please make an attempt to save me from myself by leaving a comment below.