Comet Sailplane
Project
Seems like no matter how much preparation you do
or how much care you take, the are always little tiny specks or flicks in
paint when you spray. After letting the satin Klass Kote sprayed on the wing
cure for 24 hours, I ran my hand over the sprayed surface of the wing and I
could feel these little tiny specks ever so often. I checked the other
sprayed components of the Sailplane and they also had them. I did not want
to sand the surface for fear of scratching the satin Klass Kote epoxy
finish. In a discussion James Lollar, he told me that the really good
builders of plastic models use a very special fine emery paper for smoothing
out paint and can even polishing the paint.
So I drove out to our large USA Hobby Town store
here in Arlington. They stocks the fine emery paper, which is called "Micro-Mesh
Abrasive", for finishing paint on plastic models. I bought one sheet
of 1800 grit and one sheet of 2400 grit as shown below at $4.75 a sheet.
However, I found that even the 2400
grit too abrasive because it marked satin Klass Kote finish. I went back and
picked up a sheet of 8000 grit and a four sheet combination package
containing 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, and 12000 grit as shown below
(I had no idea they even made grit this fine). The
package even has its own small capsule of green wax, which of course I will
not use.
I used the single sheet of 8000 grit to
successfully removed the tiny little specks in the satin Klass Kote on the
tail surfaces without leaving any marring the surface what so ever. Then I
finished hinging the control surfaces and putting the Sailplane's tail
assembly together. I took the following pictures for you to see below.
Left Rear View
(You can actually see the extraordinary satin finish on the
stab's left orange tip.)
Right Front View
Rear View
(Notice how the black 2-56 cap screws that secure the stab's sub
fins are hidden in the black stripes.)
One final note. Using Micro-Mesh abrasive on the
top of the wing to removed the tiny little specks in the satin Klass Kote
will be important for the graphics to adhere smoothly to the top of the
wing...........................Tandy