August 25-27, 2024 I wasn’t happy with the fit of the raw vertical stabilizer fairing onto the VS. It wasn’t very flush and didn’t have a clean parting line, so I decided to try to fair it in, using the technique described in Section 5. The second photo shows that technique, with electrical tape release liner applied to the vertical stab, and then a mix of epoxy/microballoons (peanut butter consistency) applied to bring the fairing up to the level of the aluminum. Paul told me that he typically does this kind of fairing in 3 steps: 1. Use epoxy/microballons mixed to peanut butter. After curing, it will have gaps and holes. Sand with 80 grit. 2. Use epoxy/balloons mixed to honey consistency to fill the hopefully small defects remaining. Sand with 150 grit. 3. Use pure epoxy to fill any remaining pinholes, and sand smooth with 300-400 grit. Should be ready for priming after this. The second photo below is after step 1. I also mounted the FlyLEDs tail light onto the rudder bottom fairing. I used a mounting ring supplied by FlyLEDs, which uses 2 M4 screws to mount the light. Wiring will be done later when the empennage is reassembled.

Time spent: 8hr 30min