Gelcoat repair

Heck, anything less than 18m will seem like a cakewalk. *Just don't
plan on having a social life this winter...

I am restoring an LS-1 right now. And I can truely attest to the
amount of work it's taking. I'm taking my time, going very slow and
using the advice from 6 mentors who have repainted a glider before.
One of which is giving me weekly advice, sometimes daily.

My friend Ralph Luebke who has built many gliders before gave me a
peice of a wing that came from a grob twin astir. I would HIGHLY
recommend getting a small peice from a wrecked glider and practing on
that first. This was a great idea that has taught me a bunch. I took
a 3 foot section about mid wing that was sawed off on both sides, then
aggresively took a sander to it to see just how it would look to go
through the gelcoat and into the fiberglass. You can destroy the
bottom side perhaps to learn by pushing the limits of a sander, or you
could take another section and restore it with "no fear" of hurting a
wing. It was great to purposely make a mistake on a wrecked gliders
wing verses accidently making mistake on an airworthy glider like my
LS-1.

If your retired, part time or on an airline pilot schedule like me (20
days off/month)...the amount of work can easily be scheduled as to
avoid interferring with your social life. I have really had alot of
fun in the garage listening to talk radio, listening to my ipod and
spending time on my favorite hobby during a rainy day. So far, it's
alot of work, but enjoyable to see this old glider come back to life!

Anybody got a wrecked fiberglass glider wing (1 to 3 foot section)
they could give to jeplane?