Fiberglas parts...

I brought the Phantom's pod home from the airport last week and started to clean it up over the weekend. This thing is in bad shape. Apparently it's been repaired several times, and the quality of work is what I would call substandard. There's lots of Bondo body filler all over it, in fact, at the nose of the pod and the nosewheel opening, it's about a quarter inch thick! I don't have any more budget for a new pod, so I'm trying to salvage this one.

I must have ground and sanded on this thing for over six hours on Sunday and Monday. I've found a few repairs that I'll need to reinforce with some additional cloth and resin, especially around the edges. This pod is one of the old type with the open bottom and I really wish the bottom was covered. I might take this opportunity to close it, I'm not sure. At one point yesterday I actually gave up and stopped sanding and decided I was going to buy a new one, but changed my mind later when inspecting it again. It's got a lot to do with the over $400 that a new pod will cost. I'd rather spend it on something else. I'd say that I have another four hours sanding and prep work before I start the fiberglas repairs, then probably another two hours for paint. I'm limited as to what I can paint it with because I don't have a spray setup. I sure hate to use spray paint out of a can. I'll do what I can to make this pod look as good as possible, but I'm afraid that no matter what I do, it will look crappy. Such a shame to have a rebuilt aircraft with a substandard looking pod installed. Oh well, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Maybe it will look acceptable. I'll give it my best.