choppergirl
Well-Known Member
Another VJ-24W pilot told me the tail surfaces on my motor glider would flutter rather disturbingly, with high speed air across them.
It seems to me, blue foam board doesn't weigh that much, and I could stiffen all my tail surfaces dramatically by installing it inside the empty volume of these places.
Has anyone ever cut out blue foam the same thickness of your tail surface areas, to fit and glue or tape in as panels inside the frame of your tail surfaces, elevators, and rudder, and then covered it all then with painted Dacron as is typically done?
Is this a good/bad idea?
It seems to me like it would be a very good idea, esp. if you coated the blue foam before hand with a very slow drying glue, that would still allow you to iron shrink the Dacron around everything before it dried. Even if you got a major tear or hole punched in your tail in flight, or it weakened with age, it wouldn't be a catastropic failure because the blue foam underneath filling out the inside volume, would hold everything in place and keep any rips or tears from becoming worse. I think you would eliminate or lessen any flutter, because the foam would reinforce the Dacron from behind. And it should make them more robust to rough handling while on the ground.
It seems to me, blue foam board doesn't weigh that much, and I could stiffen all my tail surfaces dramatically by installing it inside the empty volume of these places.
Has anyone ever cut out blue foam the same thickness of your tail surface areas, to fit and glue or tape in as panels inside the frame of your tail surfaces, elevators, and rudder, and then covered it all then with painted Dacron as is typically done?
Is this a good/bad idea?
It seems to me like it would be a very good idea, esp. if you coated the blue foam before hand with a very slow drying glue, that would still allow you to iron shrink the Dacron around everything before it dried. Even if you got a major tear or hole punched in your tail in flight, or it weakened with age, it wouldn't be a catastropic failure because the blue foam underneath filling out the inside volume, would hold everything in place and keep any rips or tears from becoming worse. I think you would eliminate or lessen any flutter, because the foam would reinforce the Dacron from behind. And it should make them more robust to rough handling while on the ground.
