Hi.

 During last winter I have completely repaired my oldest Shark (from 2004, I think). Over 1000 flights and quite a lot of travelling started to show and because it's one of my best flying planes, something had to be done.
 One basic fault Of Sharks is that (molded) fuselage center seam cracks after a few hundred flights, mostly in the nose section of fuselage. This is caused by engine vibration and temperature and humidity changes. At first I tried to fix the problem with glassfiber tape & epoxy reinforcement inside the nose but a longer term solution is to have the reinforcement on both in- and outside. Outside repair means a lot of work because the model is allready finished.
 So, I started by removing all the paint from fuselage. I have to say that 5 years old polyurethane is not easy to remove, especially when you have to be carefull not to hurt the glassfiber skin under it.
 The original cheek cowlings and whell pants were of  molded Herex (kind of hard foam similar to Rohacell but more flexible) sheet, 1mm thick with 49g/m2 glass on both sides. I replaced them with glass-0,8mm balsa-glass -moldings. The original wheels are very durable but quite heavy, I replaced them wit l.w. Dave Brown foam wheels. Maybe that was a mistake because foam wheels seem to wear out quite fast and for replacing them I now need to tear the pants open. We'll see..
 After removing the paint, I brushed 3 coats of S&H Percotex surfacer and removed most of it with #600. After that the plane was ready for base white, I used Rucopur polyurethane from Swiss company Ruco.
 I also reinforced the engine bearers with 2mm glassfiber plate to stop the engine digging into the bare wood. I also re-covered the fuel tank with 3/32 balsa and aluminized Mylar for better thermal insulation.
 To the new cowling, I also made a cooling "shroud" for better cooling.
 Wings and tail are only partially re-painted, plus that I built an adjustable l.o. guide.
 Before and after decoration painting the whole @#$% was wet-sanded with #1400-#2000 and then polished out with Farécla G10 rubbing compound. Even when the paint job is a bit boring, I'm very happy with the result.
 Weight of the model is about 40 grams more than before, not a big deal.

 Regards, Lauri

picture

One more.. For a reason I don't know I am unable to put more pictures in one message. L

Nice paint scheme...simple yet attractive and artsy. The reason you can't post more than one picture per post, is because your picture files are too large. The limit per post is 1,000kb and 10 pics, so they need to average 100kb. It's pretty easy with IrfanView.  Steve

 Dennis,

 Thanks. Yes, it's better than as new, the original was not sanded and rubbed after painting, plus the structural handicaps.
 This is the first plane where I used 2-k polyurethane paint. It's an absolutely lovely product! I only miss the inklines, I will have to find out if they can supply me clear polyurethane and if yes, I will have to find out if it is as easy to sand and polish as the coloured ones. I have found the automotive acrylic clear too difficult to polish and also while light and easy, repair painting for 1-k auto acrylic colour & 2-k acrylic clear system is very difficult.
 I just received a new Shark for the new Metkemeijer .77 engine. It's all in primer, most of the surfaces are allmost ready for painting but there is still lots of small things to do untill I get to that. This time I supplied the engine mounts to Andrey and he did only the most critical aligning and assembly, I will do the rest during next winter. I will post later about that project.

 Picture: This is what the #12 looked before make-up.

 Regards, Lauri