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Bent longeron repair and covering

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Arfang

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2014
Messages
157
Location
Switzerland
Good day,

Following the discussion about structural repair in my K8J thread, I decided to create a new thread dedicated to the following issue:

There is a bent longeron on the bottom of the tail section, I'm unable to access it without removing the covering.

20181012_145651.jpg20181010_183411.jpg

I found an online discussion started by someone with the same issue. Both top longerons on his Kitfox were bent. People recommended to check for cracks and then straighten the longerons back to their original shape. The method is described in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd3sw0OppWM

I've built a tool to straighten the tube like shown in the video, the longeron is only bent about less than 1/2in over a 15in length but my main concern is about fabric. In the same discussion I mentioned, someone wrote that it is possible to remove the fabric without cutting it by peeling it off from one side where there is an overlap. Would it be a viable solution? If yes, how should I proceed? I'm asking this because fabric covering is something I've never worked with, the simpler the better, but if the more experienced members think it's better to cut and patch then I'll learn how to do it properly.

Here are pictures of the structure and the overlap (two actually if I'm not mistaken), the bent longeron is located at the bottom of the second bay in the second picture:

Ka8-Frame_gebogen.jpg20181012_145749.jpgbottom.jpgupperleft.jpg20181019_004747.jpg

Any ideas and comments are welcome as always.
 
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