I spent the winter months making a mold of the front windshield of
my AC4. I have just received the windshield back from the
fabricators. Looks good so far. I will be trimming it and fitting it
to the fuse over the next few weeks. I donated the mold to the
fabricators so that they are now able to provide front and rear
windshields to anyone needing one. They are availabe from: Aircraft
Windshield Co. 10871 Kyle St., Los Alamitos CA 90720, attn: Judy
Gallo 562-430-8108. These people have been very helpful and easy to
deal with. The cost of the front windshield delivered to Texas was
just over $300.00.
 

I did some minor hull repairs (major hull scratches from a rough field landing) last summer and was very pleased with the results.

This is the procedure I used:

Step 1. Remove all wax at least a foot beyond the repair area with automotive
wax and grease remover solvent.

Step 2. Sand the area down gradually until you break through the original grey primer and you start to see the structural fibreglass. You want to match the weight of the existing fibrerglass and lap onto the original fibreglass at least 2 or 3 inches beyond. The new fibreglass must lap directly onto the original fibreglass. Do not lap onto the filler layers since the filler layers have no structural strength.Use muliple layers of 8 oz.bi-directional e-glass and let cure with a peel ply on top. When cured, remove the peel ply. West System Epoxy works well for this. If the damage does not extend this deep skip this part and go directly to step 3.

Step 3. Now that the structural portion is repaired you have to build the area back up to the original contour. First if you didn't use peel ply you must rough sand the area with 80 grit paper to remover any epoxy gloss. Then apply a thick layer of epoxy and microballon mix filler to the whole area. The thicker the mix the easier the sanding will be. Let cure and start wet sanding with 100 grit paper and work your way up to 220 grit paper and finally 320 paper. Use a flexible sanding plane at least 10 inches long in order to match the contour exactly. I made my own with 3/32 x 3" plkywood strip. You may have to repeat several times untill it is perfect.Make sure the area is complely dry between each coat. If you can turn the lights down and use a flashlight to see if there are any "shadows" it helps. Also, feel the area to detect any valleys and bumps. It should be near perfect when your done. Finally, apply primer and wet sand again to see if you are happy with the shape. If not, apply more microballon/epoxy mix and repeat some more.

Step 4. Mask off the area to say a foot beyond the area you have worked on and well onto the original "undamaged area".

Step 5. Spray 3 to 4 coats of paint onto the area and try to gradually fade into the original finish area. Wait about 20 minutes between each coat. Dupont Imron 2 part polyurethane enamel "Fleet Color # 7414U" is a very high quality paint and a very near if not perfect color match for the Russian factory finish. If you fade it into the original finish, the repair area will be virtually unnoticeable.

Step 6. Start wet sanding the area with 220 grit paper and gradually work your way to wet sanding with 320, 600, 1000, 1200, 1500 and finally 1800 paper.  Let dry completely.

Step 7. Apply a liberal amounts of rubbing compound to the area and start buffing with an electric wax type buffer. When finished, clean with wax and grease remover.

Step 8. Apply polishing compound and polish with an electic polisher.

Step 9. Apply your usual wax and your done.

Regards, Rick Ac-5M #19


Hi John,

The Russia is built of E glass. Repairs and kits have been done to everyone's satisfaction with West Systems epoxy with fast 205 hardener (206 if you want more work time). Evercoat makes an excellent filler and Smooth Prime is a great pinhole filling primer coat. All these materials are avialable from Aircraft Spruce 877-477-7823.

The paint is a two stage polyurethane and there are about 300 shades of white. The only way to get a sure match is to take a part to a local autobody paint supplier and have it computer matched. The guy who does touch up & paint repairs here uses Lesonal paints, but he says any quality polyurethane paint will be fine. Note that some feather and blend better than others.

Have fun!

PM