Comet Sailplane
Project
This afternoon I made up an all new mix of satin
Klass Kote and shot the bottom of the wing around 1:30 p.m. Later on this
afternoon, I decided the wing would be dry enough to spray the top. So
around 5:00 p.m. I shot the top of the wing. When I had finished spraying
the top, I took the picture below before the atomized Klass Kote epoxy
particles had settled out of the air in the closed garage.
A little later when I went out and checked on how
the wing was drying, I took this picture in an attempt to show you the
beautifully smooth satin Klass Kote finish on the top of the wing.
I want to share with you a problem I
encountered with the satin Klass Kote. Remember last Friday I sprayed the
bottom of the stab. Since I let it dry overnight, I sealed the remaining 6
ounce Klass Kote mix in a jar and put it in the refrigerator. Saturday
morning I removed the mix from the refrigerator, gave it a couple of
hours to come up to room temperature, and then added just a touch of reducer
to help thin the mix. I took the time to thoroughly stir up the mix. Then I
mounted the stab on the second support fixture and sprayed the top of the
stab.
Here is problem I encountered: As late as
yesterday evening the dry coat of satin Klass Kote on top of the stab
was not as satin as the rest of the model's components #$@&? (it had kind of
a shiny or semi gloss sheen). The only thing I can come up with as to why
is that the mix had been placed in the refrigerator overnight and it had a
little additional thinner added, which by the way according to Nate
Dickerson was supposed to be OK.
I kept looking at the top of the stab and
debating about what to do for a long time. Since I was never going to accept
this miss matched sheen of the top of the stab, I remounted the stab on the
second support fixture and resprayed the top of the stab this afternoon in
between the time I sprayed the bottom of the wing and the top of the wing.
As you can see below, by respraying using the fresh satin Klass Kote I had
mixed up for the wing, the satin finish of the top of the stab now matches
the rest of the model's components. I will call Nate Dickerson (Mr. Klass
Kote) tomorrow and see if he knows what the problem could possibly be.
Now I will take my time and spend this coming
week going through all of the final installations and assembly on the Comet
Sailplane. I will perform a weight and balance to check for meeting the SAM
minimum weight requirement and to check for the proper CG location. So I
will have a couple more reports to send out before I begin the Sailplane's
all important flight test program. But at least I am finally finished with
all the covering, painting, and finishing
activities!..............................Tandy