August 18, 2008 - Polish Horizontal Stab

Time to polish the horizontal stabilizer, the first RV component I built.  Hard to believe it was over four and a half years ago. 

First I removed the blue plastic.  There has been some concern about leaving the blue plastic on for long periods.  I'm here to tell you that after removing the blue plastic, the alcad-covered aluminum looks as if it were shipped yesterday.  My plane has been living in a climate-controlled basement all that time to be sure. 
 

OK, the blue plastic is all gone and the HS rubbed down with acetone.

 
I compounded it, then polished. 
 
I sanded my empennage fairing to get the gloss off, then applied the Loehle pinhole filler.  Unlike the gel-coated tip pieces, this epoxied fiberglass piece is very prone to pinholes.  The black primer/filler will tell the tale how effective the pinhole filler is. 
 
 
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