| 18 |
Start sanding upper surface of port aileron using belt sander with 120 grit belt. Material removal seems quite slow despite cleaning the belt so change to a new 80 grit Hermes belt. Initially looks promising with faster removal but within a few minutes the belt parts at the join. It appears to be joined with hot-melt adhesive - not very suitable! Change to a 40 grit SAIT belt which removes material much faster but needs care to avoid going too deep. Once green-blue patches are appearing widely change to 120 grit again to smooth it and then clean up some small patches with the hand detail sander. Vacuum off and weigh it: 2730g, so that is 195g removed today.
The target weight for the port aileron after painting is 3060g. Allowing 200g per face for re-painting, my new target weight for it before painting is therefore 2660g. So, I need to get another 70g off the port aileron, which might be do-able as there are still some whitish areas that can be tackled.
While in calculation mode, for the starboard aileron, the target weight after painting is 3085g. Allowing 200g per face for re-painting, my new target weight for it before painting is therefore 2685g. So, I need to get another 230g off the starboard aileron.
Do some more sanding on whitish areas of upper surface of port aileron with hand sanders. Vacuum off and weigh: 2725g. Although quite a lot of dust came off, this seems to confirm that the paint is heavier than the filler for an equivalent volume (not very surprising). Fit another new 80 grit belt to the belt sander and work on the paint area towards the LE, starting to go around the curve slightly as far as the hinge line. Smooth off with soft circular hand sander and 120 grit disc. Vacuum off and weigh: 2700g. That means I have removed 405g of paint & filler but there is still 220g of paint & filler on the aileron, almost all forward of the hinge line. To bring the aileron into balance, the new paint must not exceed 360g; Ryan had estimated 160g - 200g per face.
I guess it might just be OK if I flat off the paint on the LE & (particularly) the horns so they can get another coat along with the main part of the aileron, and that will help to keep the balance point forward. |
2920.7 |
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