Wheel Pant Fairings

Time: 6 Hours

I sanded the seams of both wheel pants to start the day. I will say that sanding the flox is tough work and it’s is surprising how strong cotton fibers in epoxy gets! My arms and hands are pretty sore, must be cause I’m old! After I had them sanded I put the gear leg fairings back on followed by the wheel pants. Now I started on the intersection fairing that ties the gear leg to the wheel pant. You can make these from scratch or use pre made ones. I opted for the later and bought some from RVBits sold by Cleaveland Tools. These are really nice and have a great shape. You still need to trim them and shape the aft edge based on your needs. My first task was to create a template and mark both side for the shape I wanted. 

Once I had a shape I was happy with I did a rough cut with the band saw. 

Then I slipped them in place and and marked for drill holes. I’m going to do four screws, two forward and two aft. I clamped them in place to check the fit. 

After I was happy and had them marked I drilled through them and the wheel pant and clecko’d them in place. 

I then made the mark for the top aft edge so it meets the gear leg and drew a curve to the very aft tip. With the Dremel I sanded them down and finished with my hands. 

I’m really happy with the shape and fit except the aft seam. It’s going to take a little work to get it to fit nice without clamping them. Overall I’m happy with the look. I will drill and install the four nutplates needed to attach these and screw them down before working on the aft end seam so they will be secure. 

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