At last, the fiberglass windshield retainer is finally ready for paint. Doesn't look like much has happened since the last photo, but many hours have been added since then, including trimming and shaping the ends to interface with the metal side retainers, adjusting final thicknesses along the whole length, detail fills here and there, and on and on. It's hard to believe that so far, I have more than 60 hours invested in making this one part. When the paint work is done, sometime next week, the windshield will finally get installed, and there will be some serious celebration.

Time to get serious about finishing the fiberglass windshield retainer. The first photo shows the first rough cut along the top and bottom edges with the Dremel metal cutter wheel, which goes through the fiberglass very fast. Too fast. (At this point all work on the retainer is nerve wracking -- because it would be very difficult to build another one at all, much less to fit the existing rivet hole pattern already drilled in the top of the fuselage.) All the retainer's rivet holes have been cleared out by back drilling through the filler from the backside using special plexiglass/plastic drill bits. The edge lines need to be cut and sanded down quite a bit more -- the whole thing will be narrower when done -- but the second photo shows an interim test fit back on the plane, and it's starting to look very nice indeed.

At last the fiberglass windshield retainer has been removed from the fuselage. As I expected it took four coats of filler and many hours of sanding to get the final surface shaped and very smooth. What I didn't anticipate is that, including sanding of the fiberglass and fourt coats of filler, it took over 12 hours of sanding. Hmm. Must be missing some essential technique. Anyway, it's done. The first two photos show closeups after sanding after the third coat of filler. One more coat was needed.

The third photo shows the retainer right after careful separation from the fuselage, before any trimming. It's a view you probably won't see on other airplane building web sites -- because it's sooo ugly! 

The final photo below shows the retainer after the initial trim cut. It will take quite a bit more work to reach the final shape, but this represents completion of the hard part. The rest of the windshield job should be all downhill from here. [Ed.: Why does he keep saying things like that?]

The fiberglass windshield retainer after first sanding of the first filler coating.

Slathering on some fiberglass impregnated auto body filler to round out the bump left in the fiberglass by the rubber channel under the bottom of the windshield.

Lots of sanding on the windshield retainer today. First, an hour or so of sanding to clean up the fiberglass itself. Then another hour drawing bigger darker trim lines. A first application of fiberglass impregnated body filler went next. (Because I have a rather hefty rubber channel on the bottom of the windshield, some considerable fairing work is needed to smooth out the rubber channel's bump in the fiberglass.) After that cured, about two hours of hand sanding, then another smaller coat of the same filler... which is curing now. I expect it will take two more applications of lightweight top coat filler to get it done right, so three more sandings, starting tomorrow. For now, just tired shoulders.

Got the windshield retainer rivet pattern drilled today, as marked by a plethora of clecos below. It's a scary proposition, drilling all those holes into the forward fuselage skin. Laying out all the trim and rivet lines takes awhile. It's done by measuring every 1-1/2" or so, then drawing a horizontal line through the points. There are three lines required. I'll add two more reference lines before coating the retainer with filler, just so I can measure back to the trim line which may be obscurred by the filler. I used narrow masking tape to make a clean line, and to more easily mark the rivet spacing. I hope there will be enough room for the cowl top frame at the front. It will be snug.

The windshield bottom retainer fiberglass layup is done. After an hour of setting up materials -- and another for handwringing and other procrastination -- it took 2-1/2 hours to do the standard four layers of fiberglass, plus three extra layers on the ends to beef them up a bit. I'm pleased with the actual layup work -- shouldn't be many bubbles or other voids. The ultimate success of the task will have to await determination of how well it fits after all the masking material is removed, and how much sanding and filling or other fairing work will be required. For now, the layup will need to cure for about two days, during which time I'll keep the hangar heated for thermal consistency. Time for some fresh air.