I haven’t moved the plane outside yet, but I have started filling/sanding. So, vacuum as much as I try, my shop is getting awfully dusty. I think I’ll move it outside this weekend to take care of some of the major shaping work. I’ve done body work before, so this is not something I’m unfamiliar with. I will do most of the shaping/leveling with 36 grit 3M paper on a board sander or smaller blocks/tubes where necessary. I will then go over and give it a very fine skim coat of glazing putty to fill in the deep sanding grooves. A final sanding with 100 grit, then a couple coats of filler primer which will be wet sanded. I suspect I will stop there and not do a finish painting until I am in a hanger and have the rest of the plane complete.
Here’s a few pictures of the sanding so far. The previous builder started this process already. It is actually not that much work and should go pretty quick. The only big difference between auto body work and smoothing a composite plane is that you can’t use auto body filler that sets up in 20 min. You have to use high-grade epoxy mixed with micro that typically sets up overnight. That makes a big difference. I could probably do the major shaping of the fuselage in a weekend using auto body filler as you can put it on and be sanding in a half hour. With the epoxy/micro its on one day, and sand it off the next which slows the cycle down. Once its shaped and the major work is done, fine filling and priming should be quicker.
