March 8-30,2018 - Finishing the Sides
The last three week's progress has been consolidated into a single progress report as the work has been redundant. Despite the redundancy, it has been a satisfying period as much has actually been accomplished toward completion of the Flyer. Eric has pretty much finished with multiple coats on the inside while Jeff, Jim, John, and Rick have been finishing the final side layer. To this point, this has included fitting the mahogany strips for the final layer, attaching them temporarily with staples and screws, removing them again, and reapplying them with epoxy adhesive, screws, and staples. Once the epoxy had set, the staples and screws were removed for the final time, holes and gaps were filled with epoxy, and the sides were sanded and faired into their final surface curvature prior to sealing, the final step. The sealing was accomplished with a special sealer (see photos in slideshow). The sealer was worked over and over with a brush to remove as much "orange peel" finish appearance as possible. This is where things stand as of March 30, 2018.