Scale Wendell Hostetler 30% Piper Cherokee Glass Fuselage Build.

GorillaToast said:

What crankbait?

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Anything topwater. Preferably a Hulapopper.......

The door came out of the mold and was trimmed to size, it is a little too flexible for my liking. Plan to set the door back in the mold and add another layer of carbon. It currently weights about .6 grams per square inch. Thinking that I will use light weight filler in the epoxy when the third layer is added to give it a little additional depth. This could be a prototype! I think the plan of including the door in the mold might just work.

The third layer plus the micro balloons added the stiffness I was looking for. With original 2 layers of carbon fiber, a 4 ounce glass cloth and 1 1/2 ounce glass cloth the door measured .027" thick, that is a little over the thickness of the cloth alone. The additional layer and the micro balloons added another .015". the door is now .042" thick and quite stiff. I plan to epoxy it the mold and lay up over it. Going to paint both surfaces with PVA and then glue it in place. Put clear packing tape over the interior surface of the door to aide release. Started laying up other parts like the wing tips, have more glass and carbon fiber coming tomorrow.

Seen a fellow here using butyl sealing tape for metal roofs as sealing tape for vacuum bagging. Decided to give it a try, since I never used the purpose designed tape for vacuum bagging I have no point of reference. This appears to be cheaper as the place where I buy the epoxy is selling a 25' roll for $7.60 and I pick up this tape at Home Depot for a little over $5 for a 40' roll. Not as messy as caulking. Seems to work ok.
The door is in place and curing. I will still need to sealing around the door edge with clay before the PVA is applied.
Starting to rethink the fuselage lay up, since the door was a little too flexible I may need to add the third layer of carbon fiber in the flatter areas of the fuselage, the other thing I' considering is using 1/8" thick contest balsa as core material in those areas. Need to do some evaluation.

Tony, I use the butyl rubber tape for sealing deck fittings on my sailboat. it’s really sticky, especially when the temps get above 90. I’ll be interested to see how it works in this application.

Where do you buy it? The stuff I have is sticky as well and it is working OK. I need to change a few procedures that I am using to improve the performance. Got the vertical fins laid up with a layer of 1 1/2 ounce and 4 ounce. Going to put the first layer of 1 1/2 ounce and 5.7 ounce carbon fiber in the fuselage halves and roll it over on the fin, then put the final layer of 6 ounce cloth in the fin and roll it over the fuselage. Used small pieces to conform to the corrugations.

I buy 1/2" wide tape from a guy in Maine that sells it to boaters. If HD has it for $5, I'll start getting it there!
btw, the work you're currently doing is splendid.

Put the first layer of 5.7 ounce carbon fiber in today. Had a heck of a time getting a seal, should have masked the flange off before spraying the PVA, still learning. Took three hors after everything was cut and ready to go, took about an hour to get the bag sealed. There is a layer of 1 1/2 ounce glass, a layer of 5.7 ounce CF, peel ply and the yellow is an old bath towel acting as a breather and adsorbate sheet. Hope I can get it off in the morning! If I do tomorrow I will put a layer of 6 ounce glass cloth on the fin, the carbon id overlapping the fin up about 1 1/2".

Woke up early and went to work. Trimmed the flanges and pulled the peel ply. There are a few imperfections but all in all it is good, I think if the vacuum came quicker most of these would be pressed out. Put a second layer of 6 ounce cloth on the fin, it overlaps the fuselage by 1 1/2". I was worried about the shape corner where the fin meets the fuselage and often thought I might have made a mistake making it all one piece, but it seems to be working well with the process I'm using. The layup comes right of the mold, the clamps are holding it in place until the second layer is placed. Have decided to add a third layer of carbon fiber in the cabin area, this will be 12" x 30". Next question, can I get the door out?