Sanding the Cockpit

I’ve spent a couple of hours today sanding down the cockpit. It was fairly smooth anyway, but I’ve rounded all of the edges and corners. I can’t believe what a massive difference it makes. It seems to have turned from a shaped box into what it is supposed to be, and there’s so much more to do.

I was going to use a Router, for ease and accuracy, but it turned out that the screws were too close to the edge and routing would have meant countersinking the screws further and causing problems.

I ended up using a plane firstly. Taking a strip off at 45 degrees, roughly. After doing this I used course sandpaper to get the edge and then a finer sandpaper to get the nice finish.

I used an electric sander to do the flat surfaces, followed by the finer sandpaper to make it even smoother.

There are a few more edges to do on the front section but the rear is complete. 15 minutes work tomorrow and it will be done.

I also received the aluminium plate today, it’s perfect.

Don’t ask about the hat in the pic! My hair was a nightmare. I also used a mask, MDF is full or formaldehyde. And gloves, although I’ve still come out with a blister on my thumb!

Check out the pics.