My Kis Cruiser - Wing Finishing

N247BR

Wing Finishing - Prep to Finish

Once the wings have been closed and the wing tips installed the same steps are performed for each wing.

The leading edge will have a glass layup over the joing line between the top and bottom. The glass will be filled and sanded until the flow between the top and bottom.

The wing tips will require special attention to fill and smooth to fill and level to the rest of the wing. After the wing is sanded and filled to a clean surface it will still have substantial pin holes that even an epoxy coating will not fully cover. The best way I found to get a truely pin hole free and totally smooth wing was to cover the entire wing with another layer of glass.

Using a very light weight (1.5 oz) high fiber count glass the wing is covered from tip to tip on bottom and top. (This is called deck cloth and used in the boat building business to cover teak without showing) Once the glass is covered with a thin layer of epoxy the entire wing will be sanded again.

The glass and epoxy is sanded again using a wide fine grade paper using a long board. Once the final sanding is complete, the wing would be primed.

Multiple coats of primer and sanding between coats produces a super almost mirror like finish on the primer.

I did make one major mistake in the wing finish process that I came to regret. The length of time between priming the wings and the final painting of the wings was months/years and as a result the final paint did not bond properly with the primer and I had to repaint each of the wings. The end result shown below came out good but NOT great.

Once the wings have been closed and the wing tips installed the same steps are performed for each wing.

The leading edge will have a glass layup over the joing line between the top and bottom. The glass will be filled and sanded until the flow between the top and bottom.


The wing tips will require special attention to fill and smooth to fill and level to the rest of the wing. After the wing is sanded and filled to a clean surface it will still have substantial pin holes that even an epoxy coating will not fully cover. The best way I found to get a truely pin hole free and totally smooth wing was to cover the entire wing with another layer of glass.

Using a very light weight (1.5 oz) high fiber count glass the wing is covered from tip to tip on bottom and top. (This is called deck cloth and used in the boat building business to cover teak without showing) Once the glass is covered with a thin layer of epoxy the entire wing will be sanded again.


The glass and epoxy is sanded again using a wide fine grade paper using a long board. Once the final sanding is complete, the wing would be primed.


Multiple coats of primer and sanding between coats produces a super almost mirror like finish on the primer.


I did make one major mistake in the wing finish process that I came to regret. The length of time between priming the wings and the final painting of the wings was months/years and as a result the final paint did not bond properly with the primer and I had to repaint each of the wings. The end result shown below came out good but NOT great.