Cliff Charlesworth Olympia build in Bishop, CA.

[Greg Smith]

With the wings being built from scratch, I'm thinking I can make sure of things as I go along.

[Greg Smith]

Just testing a new sizing program. Old picture: no replies needed, unless it's still taking up too much space!

[Barry_Cole]

Look good Greg

BC

[Greg Smith]

Thanks so much, guys: I need the encouragement to get started again. I'm very apprehensive about ruining my reasonably good building with the fibreglassing, which I've never done on a compound shape where I wanted it to be immaculate. Still, we learn by doing, right?
I might do a wing next, since Cliff has been so good as to get me the wing joiner and cut it for me. This will require bench reorganization to make room for such a big structure. I'm glad the picture worked: now I just have to remember how I did it!

[Peter Balcombe]

Greg,
The fibreglassing is not as bad as it sounds. It's a bit like aerotowing - much easier than you might think once you try it.
I suggest that (if you aren't already intending to go down this route) you use very lightweight cloth & only try to cover one half of the Fuz. at a time. You will find that the lightweight cloth can be smoothed to follow most of the compound curves using a brush. Aim to go over the top & bottom centreline on the first side. Choose a low viscosity epoxy mix, in a warm environment to help minimise viscosity & a good tip is to apply the epoxy with a 2" wide foam roller. I found that I could lay the cloth on dry & then just apply the resin with the foam roller - starting in the centre & carefully working outwards until over the top & bottom centreline. It is easy to see when the cloth has wetted out and the roller will press the cloth onto the skins.
Just leave any excess overlap cloth dry if necessary - as long as the wetted out cloth is in contact with the skins and goes over the centrelines.
Leave the epoxy to partially cure before trimming off the majority of the excess cloth with a sharp knife. Then leave to fully cure before sanding off the remainder & feathering the edges.
Repeat the process with the second side before feathering its edges into the first side.
If necessary, apply glass to any additional areas which may have been missed.
Give the overall glassed fuselage a sand to remove any pimples etc and then you can apply a further coat of resin to each side to fill the glass weave.
Sand with 320 grit, working up to 600 used wet to achieve a smooth surface for paint application.
The above process was used on my Olympia builds and I am pretty sure there were some build photos of these steps on the original build thread.

[Greg Smith]

Generous of you as always, Peter: thank you.
I will read and reread your advice before starting.
Perhaps unconventionally, I am going to try some Minwax floor treatment/covering rather than resin. I have used this successfully before on ply, but it doesn't work on balsa, as I discovered trying to cover the fin! Because it's water-based, there are almost no fumes and clean up is easy: but it made the balsa warp... I used it on the cockpit coaming (ply, of course) and it looks just like resin, and sets really hard. It's slow to go off, so easy to use. I wonder what your equivalent is in the UK? Everything you have advised will be equally applicable to Minwax. I will also experiment with a slightly larger area before going on to the actual fuse. Will report back, hopefully with a picture or two in due course!

[Peter Balcombe]

Greg,
I posted some missing pictures & additional build info for my original build in the Cliff Charlesworth Olympia 2b Update build thread further down the build thread list.

However, a couple of relevant photos are attached.

[Greg Smith]

Thanks for your trouble, Peter: I have all the other photos organized!

[Greg Smith]

My PM doesn't seem to be working properly, so I'm asking Cliff here if he received payment in the hope that he;'ll see this message.
The PM is seen in the outbox, but not in the 'sent' list. The last message in the 'sent' box is from June, and I have sent several since then...

[Greg Smith]

I was passing by the workbench and was seized by the determination that often leads to a rushed job, but went ahead anyway, bolstered by the advice I've received here. Started to glass the fuse! Yes, it seems to be easier than I expected, but I've done the back half first...
One little thing that worked well was to push down little recalcitrant bits at corners with some thin superglue and a plastic-wrapped finger.
The other thing I discovered (on doing the second side) was that if I brushed along the middle of the fuse first, in a thin line, it laid out the glass nicely and prevented wrinkles: which are generally not a problem in any case, but this worked well. My finish will certainly not be concours, but I have reached a possibly more healthy attitude( at least, for my sanity) that it will be good enough at five feet away! The Minwax (wood floor finishing treatment, thick milky texture) works well, with water cleanup and few fumes, as a bonus. New picture strategy: will it work? I-phone sent to my gmail on PC, drag to desktop. drag to 'attachments'. Hoping. Oh: it turned it upside down. It was the right way up on the desktop! Oh well, it's not a question picture anyway. Do better next time!

Well, there you are I made a right way up one. Took 3 goes, but I won in the end.
I left the upside down one for Rossco and his friends.

BC...