John,

The fillet is put in the joint first then while its still wet, 2" glass tape is layed over the wet fillet,and then wet out,this gives the best chemical bond.

The radius of the fillet allows the glass tape to conform to the angle,without the radius the tape usually wont lay flat properly.

Fillets and glass tape add longditudinal stiffeners like the old chine timbers as well as holding flat panels together.

I make the radius of my fillets about twice the thickness of the ply being used, ie 1/4' radius fillet for 1/8" ply.

I used 4 oz bias cut glass for the 2" wide tapes ,it is lighter and conforms to curves a lot better than the bought tape.

Hope this helps.

Regards Bris Paul

: Wondering if anyone has finished an Artic Hawk from CLC??

: I have been working on it for a long time. I finally decided to give up on
: the duct tape and drill holes and stitch it up. That is almost done.
: Now I wonder if someone would comment on some of the actual design features.

: Designer calls for a strip about 2 inches wided to be laid in the inside of
: the hull for strength. He then tells me to fill the area with thickened
: resin. Seems like that adds a lot of weight for what ever strenth it adds,
: it also seems that his idea of fillets tends toward the larger the better.

: Am I off the mark that some glass would be stronger and lighter than a large
: fillet?

: Just over thinking it again---which is why it still isn't finished.

: first build by the way and the instructions for this kit are nearly 400 pages
: in length, lots of pictures, like 4 to 5 per page. Hope I can get into the
: cockpit.