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(click on a pics to see a larger
version)
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Gear leg
intersection fairings - lower
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After researching the subject, I
learned that there are really three gear leg fairing alternatives for RV-8
owners. Potential sources are Van's, Tracy Saylor, and Team Rocket. All are
made from epoxy and all are decent quality. The real difference is in
their chord... Van's are the narrowest, Team Rocket's are the widest, and
Tracy's are about in the middle. I've always thought that a deeper chord leg
fairing looked better so I ruled out Van's. I like the look of
the Rocket fairings but I was a bit concerned about adding so much surface
area on the forward area of the plane (yaw stability problems?), so I went
for the middle ground. They sell for $95 and are now made by Tracy's
daughter in Oregon. If you're interested in a set she can be reached at Powell's
Premium RV Products, 541-258-3885.
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  I
decided to depart from the norm a bit with regard to my lower gear leg
fairing intersections. Instead of molding the fairing in two pieces attached
to each half of the wheel pant, I simply flared the bottom of the gear leg
fairing onto the wheel pant. This seems simpler to me and should be prone to
ripping off like the conventional method. To locate the gear fairing
fore/aft I have put a screw hole in each end that matches a platenut in the
wheel pants.
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 After
trying several different fillers I've found that plain microballoons in West
Systems epoxy works as good as anything. It's actually easier to fair into
existing fiberglass because the density is similar. Super Fil for example is
softer and sands down faster thereby making flush surfaces tougher — the
Super Fil sands down faster than the surrounding fiberglass. The first photo
is after application and the second after sanding the first coat. Yes, it
takes two coats usually to get all the voids out.
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  As
mentioned on the Paint page, PPG K38 has turned into my fiberglass filler/primer of
choice. The technique I've been using is to apply about three fairly thick
coats about 10 minutes apart, wait 24 hrs, and sand thoroughly. All of my
fiberglass parts have taken either 2 or 3 of these cycles to get rid of all
pinholes and imperfections. This technique also allows you to do the final
finish fairing on joined parts. If it's not the last coat I sand with Norton
120 grit dry paper, if it's the final coat I use 320. After thoroughly
vacuuming and blowing with compressed air, paint is then applied.
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Gear leg
intersection fairings - upper
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After
a year of working on other things on the plane, flying, and procrastinating,
I finally got around to making and installing my upper intersection
fairings. Waiting this long turned out to be a mistake — these fairings do
have an effect on flying characteristics. If interested on this issue check
the story on RV-8 tail shake on the
Flying page.These fairings were
constructed using the same method and materials as the lower intersection
fairings depicted above.
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