Jan 23, 2005

Sliding canopy modification and tail fin.

I decided that I didn’t like the height of the sliding canopy platform, nor was I happy with the look and function of the front platform. So I tossed the front half and mounted the front bubble half directly onto the top of the main fairing. Then I cut the 2 side arms of the rear sliding platform in half, re-glassed them and covered the entire thing with Bondo and sanded smooth.

I also mounted the rear view mirror fairing by inserting two bolts into drilled holed in the bottom of the mirror fairing, then filling the holes up with bondo to secure the bolts. This works, but the bondo desolves the Styrofoam so it’s probably better to use epoxy resin. Holes were drilled in the main fairing and the mirror unit was fastened down securely.

Next project was to carve a foam tail fin to hold the safety lights. I have not yet decided on what kind of lighting system I will use – probably a 10 watt halogen lamp on a flasher. I want to use my EternaLight LED units, but there is no way to wire them all together so I con control them from within the vehicle. Thomas Hoops from Technology Associates (makers of the Eternalight) has been assisting me with trying to connect them in series. Their customer service is second to none!

Greg Hannon did the electrical work on my airplane. He’s helping me with this electrical stuff. The idea is to have one rechargeable power source and use it to power the rear safety light(s), head light, sound system, and what ever other electronic gadgets I want to add.

Here are some various photos of the lid mod, mirror fairing and tail fin:

	Using weights to hold the platform down, I cut the arms in half with my chop saw.
	Then glassed them and bondo’d the whole thing and sanded smooth.
	I add some fiberglass to the nozzle that the air vent hose fits to.
	Here is a shot of the mirror
	This is the finished Styrofoam tail fin. It consists of a base with a notch cut out of it, then the fin was glued into that.
	Since I wasn’t happy with using Bondo to secure the bolts for the mirror fairing, this time, I filled two holes with a mix of epoxy resin and micro balloons.
	Then I inserted 2 bolts and pressed a washer down. When i add fiberglass, the fabric will cover the washers and the fasteners should be fairly secure.I used the remainder of the epoxy/micro mix to cover the Styrofoam and fill in the small holes. My plan is to vacuum bag this one, so I want to get the surface finish of the Styrofoam plug as perfect as I can.

TCR Do LIST:

1. Strut slot sliders – Simplify to a folding cover
2. Canopy Bubble – make a sliding convertible top
3. Front wheel well – Make glass version
4. Wingnuts for fairing mounts
5. Electrical – rechargable battery with a panel with switches for rear strobe and front headlight
6 Add a second front caliper brake
7. Make a portable wind trainer using the (mini-rollers)
8. Look into painting the fairing
9. Find a helmet that fits in the bubble
10. Add second brake
11. Install sound system
12. Rear add-on lighting system

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