Make-It-Yerself-Filler-Putty

Share your ideas on finishing, painting, markings and making your plane look its best!

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Bad Dawg
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2003 3:27 pm
Location: Solomon Islands

Make-It-Yerself-Filler-Putty

Post by Bad Dawg »

I had to move the wing on a P-400 forward by 1.5" to get the CG right. The newly carved wing saddle was way ugly. Lots of gaps. I didn't have my usual fiberglass filler so I experimented and have found a new putty that I like better.

I mixed about five parts of very wet spackeling (it would drool out of a hole on a verical surface) to one part of Elemers polyurethane glue. It expands and fills voids like crazy (at least 3 times its original volume). sticks very well to most sufaces. It's carvable, sandable, and takes paint without melting. It weighs about as much as a marshmallow. It soakd it in 15% fulel and it didn't soften. The longer it cures, the harder it gets.

I slopped it on the wing sadle, put a layer of Saran Wrap over the wing and rubber banded it on. It didn't stick to smooth Saran Wrap but did grab the wrinkles pretty tightly. It's just as messy as using straight poly (wear rubber gloves). After it is well cured (about 8 hours) and sanded, it has a surface that draws up CA to make it rock hard. During it's initial expansion and curing water droplets were visibly forced out of the mix. Between setting and fully curing it has a rubbery consistancy that you can cut with scissors.

I am going to try this stuff on wing fillets, gun blisters very tight wing saddles, and non-structural foam repairs.

NUNC AUT NUNQUAM
Mark V.
The perpetual 'newbie'
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boiler
Posts: 3336
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:16 pm
Location: Ohio
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Post by boiler »

Mark, I have found old fashiond wax paper to work well any time you work with the polyurathane glue. Less tendency to form wrinkles and the glue doesn't stick to it.

Bob Loescher
Lima Ohio
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