Finishing the Wheel Skirts

I figured it was time to bring the pressure recovery wheel skirts saga to an end…

If you recall… way back in June of 2018, I installed larger tires on my Vans RV-4.

This necessitated larger wheel skirts. Those were installed a little later that summer. They are the pressure-recovery type that make my airplane super-duper fast!!

Finally, in May of 2020, I had grown tired of the unfinished look. It was time to finish them.

One of the challenges is installing fairings between the skirts and the gear legs. I was lucky enough to purchase a set of already built fairings but getting them fitted to the skirts was a challenge. Not unexpected.

After much on-and-off, trim a little here, trim a little there, I had a fit that I could live with.

I used flox to stick them in place. Flox is a mixture of epoxy and flocked cotton fiber. This makes a nice thick paste with mighty good holding power.

There is some fiddly bits to deal with and that involves creating a lip so each half stays matched up.  A wee bit of fiber-glassing and that was done.

Sand, sand, sand…

One of the things in life that I REALLY love is sanding things. Especially fiberglass things.

With sandpaper in hand, I went to work getting as dirty and itchy as I could!

The whole process is pretty simple – sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, and so on. There are no real concerns with getting the steps mixed up or even missing a step. Nice and simple!

Near the end, you do get to mix things up a little bit…

Sand, fill, sand, fill pin holes, prime, sand, fill pin holes, prime, fill pin holes, prime, fill pin holes, sand, prime, fill pin holes, sand, and so on.

When things look pretty good, you are about half way there.  Keep going…

After reaching the end of my endurance, it was time for some color. As near as I can determine, most of my RV-4 is Ford Tractor Grey. Sadly, at some point in its life, the cowling was painted a slightly different shade of gray – ignore that please.

Three coats of color in my high-tech paint booth and the wheel skirts were looking pretty good. They are not perfect but I was not going for perfect! Only good enough!