Chapter 10 - Canard construction - Part 3

Last Sunday I spent a few hours laying up the shear web of the canard. At first I used gray duct tape to mask everything but the shear web area, however as I started to lay up the first few plies the tape fell off. I tried to replace it but it just became a real hassle. I ended up dispensing with it altogether. If I were to do this again I would try masking tape perhaps. In the end a few drips of epoxy got on the foam, not a big deal though.

Everything else went smoothly and as the plans instructed, except, it again took about twice as long as the plans called for. Either I am slow, or Burt and Mike had assistance while doing these tasks.

The dowels in the picture are for aligning the leading edge cores, which will be bonded in place tonight after I finish some minor trimming required due to the lift tab thickness.


Here is a close up of the lift tabs. As you can see I have alodined them. A two part process that involves first cleaning them with an acidic wash and then dipping them in alodine, chemical that protects the parts from corrosions and preps them for primer.