Category: Top skin

Canopy / Finishing / Fuselage / Top skin

Bonding the top skin

Been putting off bonding the top skin for some time. Was about to do it then realised I need to run another cable for the propellor pitch control. I don’t have the prop cables yet but left some space to hopefully easily thread it later on. When the top skin is fixed it seriously restrict access. Anyway, set to work with Sikaflex 295 UV, instructions say > 10C, so waited till the afternoon we hit about 12 C inside the workshop. The Sikaflex is messy stuff, it gets everywhere. Also messes up your clecos. Lots of acetone was used to clean them and everywhere else it got.

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Canopy / Top skin

Installing the top skin

Using Evan Byne video guidance affixed the top skin. The composite seemed to need twisting a little to get it to fit evenly on both sides. Using the hole finder tool, the trick is to align the firewall flanges to be flush with the front of the top skin. Then drill the composite. Made a test fit of the dashboard. Not a bad fit but some gaps on top left side. Sourcing a suitable 120-degree pilot/countersink tool for the top skin (and empennage) composite proved tricky in the UK. I found one from a company on the south coast (BSA Regal Cutting Tools) that made one up to the size I needed. 1/8 inch pilot with 5/16 head (3.2 mm x 7.9 mm) that should suit the 3.2 and 4mm countersunk rivets. KAI calls for painting the composite black.

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