More sanding, and the slider seal doghouse shape is starting to appear. I like the way Superfil sands – it's a little easier to contour than straight micro.
Another layer of filler to help build up the shape:
I smeared Superfil all along the bottom aft edge of the skirt, so I can sand it down to a nice flat surface for better sealing against the fuselage skin.
While the above was curing, I played with the side skirts a bit, using my shrinker to try to get them to fit the fuselage better at the aft ends. The fit is marginally better now, although since I only have a minimal grasp of what I'm doing with the shrinker I probably wouldn't try this approach again. Still, it seems to fit okay and it looks fine after I buffed out the marks left by the shrinker jaws. There is still a gap of 1/16"-3/32" but I am going to leave it alone and seal it against air leaks using a different method (stay tuned for a future installment).
After 10 hours or so, the filler from this morning was cured enough to sand.
I applied a little more filler in order to fine tune the shape of the doghouse area a little more.
Here's a little detail that may or may not help seal the canopy against leaks, but I think it will at least end up looking cool. I covered the C-679 slide track seal with packing tape, then pressed it down into a bed of flox inside the doghouse:
After letting it cure for an hour, I popped the seal out of there, leaving a perfect impression behind in the flox. Once this is fully cured, I will sand and fill as necessary to give a nice surface. The goal here is to make the C-679 seal perfectly and leave no path for cold air to leak past.
