Glued Down Utility Arm Outer Skin Panels

It was a busy non-droid building day, but I managed to squeeze in just enough time to prep and glue down the outer skin panels that go around the utility arms.

The first step is to lightly sand the inner skins and the backs of the outer skin panels to rough them up, remove the layer of oxidation on the aluminum, and in the case of the outer skin panels, remove some of the white spray paint that misted onto the backs of the pieces. I used 220 grit sand paper for this job.



Once I was done sanding, I cleaned everything up with acetone, taking care not to accidentally touch the painted skins with the acetone. Shiny!



Next, I ran a thin bead of silicone on the back of the lower utility arm panel.



After I spread it around with my finger, I affixed the panel to the inner skins in place.



I repeated the process for the upper panel.



After spreading the silicone around with my finger, it's hard to see the silicone, but it's there.



The second piece is in place, and I'll let this dry overnight. Hopefully it will stay where it belongs and I can move forward with the utility arm installation.