Cherokee-M Construction - Fin can
May 31 - June 1, 2003:
External fillets on the fin-body tube joint. Aeropoxy (R2032 Resin and PH3660 hardener) thickened with West Systems 404 high-density filler and reinforced with kevlar pulp. Messy stuff, but bulletproof once it cures. I smoothed vacuum-bagging release cloth over the fillets to get a relatively smooth surface, and peeled it off 12 hours later after the epoxy had set up but not fully cured, same as if I was vacuum bagging. Thanks to Scott Bowman of Aeropac for this trick. Once this stuff cures you can barely cut it with a file, so better to start with as smooth a surface as possible.
Masking around the fin fillets to avoid making a mess of the body tube:
Setting up with release film applied:
Touching up the leading edges the next day:
And fillets on both sides of the aft coupler bulkhead. Again, Aeropoxy (R2032 Resin and PH3660 hardener) thickened with West Systems 404 high-density filler and reinforced with kevlar pulp.
Masking around the coupler to messing it up:
Setting up with release film applied:
