Sanding Filler:
After taking as much as I wanted to apart, I started by sanding the wings. They had been roughly filled and sanded with a belt sander. The use of a belt sander in this operation is out of place for fear of cutting through the glass fivers. Doing it by hand is indeed a major undertaking but necessary. I started with a 4 foot sandpaper holder, which has proven very helpful. I also purchased John Walklings rolls of sandpaper. He buys leftover rolls from a commercial sandpaper mill so the widths are somewhat random but close to 4 inches. I began with 80 grit and work my way down to 100. For the final sanding I am using a two foot sanding block. For the filler I use glass bubbles and epoxy. The epoxy is aero-poxy which seems to work quite well. John Walkling felt that the west System was easier to sand but in my test of the Aero-poxy it sanded just fine with the glass bubbles.

January 20/1998 I'm using a polyester filler from an autobody shop for filling the very minute pin holes in the micro. It seems to work very well... and does not seem to be as affected by the cool conditions in my shop. I have some old feather fill which still sets but I prefer the fetherlite autobody filler.

March 31, 1998 I was warned not to use the polyester based filler wtih epoxy... seems like its not a good idea.... but too late. Hopefully it will not cause a biog problem... I intend to switch to the West sytem. I'll let you know how it goes with that.

Oct 98 I've stuck with the Aeropoxy since it works fine. I also note that the west system breaks down at 125 degrees whereas the aeropoxy goes to about 200. A major consideration in a sailplane.I have been using up some old 10-15 year old epoxy for my filler. It hardens just fine and so far so good.