Your question indicates you have not checked out the numerous how-to books on composite construction. Experimental Aircraft Association at www.eaa.org or Aircraft Spruce at www.aircraftspruce.com or Wicks at www.wicks.com have lots of helpful books for sale. The weekend hands-on training offered by SportAir Workshops www.sportair.com can provide lots of practical help.
I assume you are using urethane foam for the tank structure. Any fuel leak will dissolve polystyrene foam, as will polyester and vinyl ester resin. Standard practice is to coat the raw foam surface with a film of micro followed immediately by a wet glass or carbon fiber lay-up. The micro is lighter than straight resin and helps prevent too much of the heavier resin from the wet lay up soaking into the porous foam. The idea is to produce a light and strong structure. For best chemical resistance, recommend that you use vinyl ester resin for the fuel tank construction. Epoxy will work ok as long as you only use aviation grade 100 octane LL fuel. Automotive fuels may contain alcohol and aromatic additives that will attack the epoxy. Vinyl ester resin is not susceptible to chemical attack by automotive fuels. Sid Wood Tri-gear KR-2 N6242 Mechanicsville, MD USA [email protected] Hi all, Is it necessary to micro the insides of the fuel tanks before glassing as we do on the exterior surfaces?? I'm just starting on my header tank. Thanks Gav
