Last weekend I leveled up my wing table, and proceeded to assemble the styrofoam cores for the inboard wing plug sections. I even got the carbon stiffener ribbons glued into their trenches. I might end up cutting one or two of the glue joints open to improve the alignment, but other than that it went well.
The glue I used for the assembly was Gougeon G5, a 5-minute epoxy by the makers of the West System resins. I bought a one-quart kit, and used about half of it. It comes in two 16-ounce squeeze bottles like a ketchup-and-mustard set. This is the first time I've ever worked with mass quantities of 5-minute epoxy, and I was surprised at how quickly it gels, and how darn hot it gets. I'd be brushing in into the stiffener trenches, and I would know by the temperature of the cup in my hand how much time I had left on the pot. About when I was no longer comfortable holding the cup, I would have about 30 seconds to position what I'd just spread onto the foam.
For joining the core section, I cut the glue about 50/50 by volume with microballoons. That gave me enough filler to fill up the gaps, but it wasn't so thick that I couldn't spread it out before the clock expired.
Next up is to cut all the laminate plies. After that is our first full-size vacuum bag session. It'll be a race with the weather to see if we get that session in before Arnold (the town) is so cold I need to have the garage heater installed.
Last weekend I also installed some new speakers in one of my Volvos. It occurred to me that, of the four Volvos I've bought so far, every single one came with a radio button preset for an NPR station. Go figure.
page updated 21 October 2003 all text and graphics copyright (c) 2003 HP Aircraft, LLC