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Thread: Kit Mods

  1. #21
    Senior Member Dan L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kit Mods

    Both wings are assembled now and ready to cover.

    DSCN1592.jpg

  2. #22
    Administrator Pete D's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kit Mods

    Very nice! :-)

    Pete D.

  3. #23
    Senior Member Dan L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kit Mods

    Started covering the right wing:

    DSCN1596.jpg
    DSCN1599.jpg

  4. #24
    Senior Member Dan L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kit Mods

    It was time to flip the wing to cover the bottom side. It needed to be on the horses to allow open access to the strut-attach fitting areas. And I wanted to maintain the built-in 1" twist in the wing when I went to the 350º iron - not warp it out of shape. So here was my solution:

    DSCN1612.jpg

    The bracket supports the wing on the 1" dia. tube in round cradles. The bottom of the cradle is 6.0" above the 2x4 that was bolted to the horse when I first started the wing build. The 6.0" height allows good clearance between the uppermost part of the airfoil when it is upside down and also permits a pair of carpeted 2x6's to be screwed to the other horse and keep the wing level lengthwise. The two big red clamps are there just to ensure the 1" diameter tube stays put in the cradles. And the bracket is screwed to the 2x4 with drywall screws.

    DSCN1613.jpg

    A little shimming with carpet on the trailing edge side adjusts the wing twist to maintain the 1" built into the rear spar. I double checked the angles before flipping the wing with a digital 4' long level. And knowing the angle I can check again as the fabric tightens. The 2x6's are long enough to span three ribs.

  5. #25
    Senior Member Dan L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kit Mods

    Top & bottom fabrics Poly Tac-ed and shrunk on the right wing. Ready to start covering the left wing and have the right wing prepped for rib stitching.

    DSCN1620.jpg

    DSCN1621.jpg

  6. #26
    Senior Member Dan L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kit Mods

    The right wing is now rib stitched and almost all of the tapes in place. Ready to start spraying.

    DSCN1627.jpg

    I laid out the fabric tape positions with masking tape first and then Poly Brushed between the masking tapes.


    DSCN1630.jpg

    All taped and ready to spray except for a couple of leading edge seam tapes yet to go.

  7. #27
    Senior Member Dan L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kit Mods

    I didn't want to hijack MKrause's thread anymore than I already did on the first-rib-pulling-with-the-fabric issue. So I'm posting a picture I took here on the subject.

    DSCN1635.jpg

    It might be a little hard to see what's what in this image but the inboard edge of the lower capstrip on the first rib is what I'm refering to as having been pulled or warped by the fabric. At this stage it has Poly Brush on it and is the orange color. Putting a rule on the innermost part of the bow and eyeballing end to end, the medium weight fabric pulled the rib an even .5". It also pulled the rib towards the tank as it pivoted and there is a small section of fabric that actually now touches the tank. Now Poly Brushed it is stuck to it.

    The reason I brought this up for discussion to begin with is that I'd already fit my tank bay covers and the top of this rib was pulled inward. But not pulled nearly as much nor in a big bow like this. I suspect that the initial testing with the long-range tank setup was using lightweight fabric and it didn't pull nearly as much as the medium weight with the 350º iron.

    I haven't covered the other wing yet and before I do I think I'll make some kind of mechanical attachment between the lower part of the first rib and the 1" diameter compression tube to help keep the rib from pulling.

  8. #28
    Senior Member Dan L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kit Mods

    My kit has the extended range tanks and a tank cover. Before covering the wing I screwed some 6/32 flathead machine screws into the nutplates used with the tank cover. This allowed me to Poly Tac the fabric right over the screw heads and apply the other coatings without having problems with the threads. To open the fabric after final topcoat spraying I made a special tip for a Weller soldering iron.

    DSCN1655.jpg

    The tip was made from 3/8" dia. copper and has a cone cut on the inside creating a sharp edge on the outside diameter. When it is hot it cuts right through the Poly Fiber.

    DSCN1656.jpg

    I then just backed out the screws leaving a clean cut round hole over the nutplate.

    DSCN1657.jpg

    I am spraying all of the fabric surfaces with Poly Tone. I gave my top coat choice a lot of thought and in the end decided to use Poly Tone for a couple of reasons. It is lighter than the polyurathanes and easier to repair. But I'm going to spray polyurathane trim colors. One of the areas for trim will be the leading edge and so I attached the VG's now and will spray them right along with the LE.

    DSCN1658.jpg

    VG's right after attaching and with the templates still in place.

    The trim will be used with full gloss but the cowling and other butt-edge parts I'll flatten to match the semi-gloss Poly Tone.

  9. #29
    Senior Member Dan L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kit Mods

    I finished my right wing last evening with the spraying of the red trim line.

    DSCN1667.jpg

    DSCN1668.jpg

    The white is Poly Tone and the trim colors are Aerothane. I've used Poly Tone and Randolph products before but this was my first session with a polyurathane and it went well.

    For those that are interested in times, my build record shows 70 hours to cover and spray to this point. I'll have a little more time in spraying the tank cover and flap and aileron and installing the wing tip light but not too much. The 70 hours does not include time to assemble the wing. That process was 55 hours. 125 hours total on the right wing.

    With the wing and tank area un-masked now after the spraying I was able to check the tank cover nut plate positions compared to my pre-cover hole positions punched in the lid. The ribs on both sides (ribs one and three) did move and cause the holes to no longer be as closely aligned as they were originally but I think they're close enough that I can slot some of the center holes (where it pulled more) about a half hole and it will work OK.

  10. #30
    Administrator Pete D's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kit Mods

    A true craftsman-someone who can make something that didn't quite go according to plan look like that is how it was supposed to be from the beginning

    Pete D.

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