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Alternative leading edge material?

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cluttonfred

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In many fabric-covered, strut-braced wing designs, the leading edge wrap is there primarily for aerodynamics. That can even be the case in some cantilever designs like the Ercoupe that don’t use a D-cell spar.

The Volksplanes specify easily-dented sheet aluminum or more resilient but still fragile thin plywood, but this seems like a great application for thin fiberglass sheet or some planstic like acrylic or polycarbonate. I do wonder about varying rates of thermal expansion creating wrinkles, though.

Anyone have any experience with something other than aluminum or plywood in this sort of application?
 
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