Gary Hogue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2019
- Messages
- 63
Back in February, on a mild sunny day, I was exercising my engine during the otherwise cold, non-flying months. Everything was going smoothly: I had tied down the plane, warmed it up, shut it down, untied it and took a few paces toward the hanger to throw the rope inside. As I turned back, I was horrified to see the plane reared up on its tail, caught by a rogue gust of wind, threatening to do a pilotless crow hop - or worse. I ran over and quickly wrangled the nose back down. To my great relief, the tail area was undamaged. In fact, the only damage was to the lower right wing tip trailing edge. Pictures below.
After a few months had passed, and temperatures warmed, I did some dissection and discovered broken epoxy/foam trailing edge ribs and a 1/4" aluminum tube. I repaired those in short order. What's left is a covering job. My guess is that I need to remove an inch or two of the latex paint color coat, down to the primer, around the perimeter of the damaged area. Then wrap the area with new Superflite, tape the overlapping edges and shrink. Based on those assumptions, here are some questions:
Fig. 1: Sort of like an aileron.
Fig. 2: Look what they did to my boy...
Fig. 3: Cleaned up, but do I really want to go back and forth to the hanger every time a coat of paint is drying?
Fig. 4: Nope. Wing's got to come off.
Fig. 5: Surf's Up
Fig. 6: The easy part is done.
I'd be grateful for any advice or experience you'd be willing to share.
After a few months had passed, and temperatures warmed, I did some dissection and discovered broken epoxy/foam trailing edge ribs and a 1/4" aluminum tube. I repaired those in short order. What's left is a covering job. My guess is that I need to remove an inch or two of the latex paint color coat, down to the primer, around the perimeter of the damaged area. Then wrap the area with new Superflite, tape the overlapping edges and shrink. Based on those assumptions, here are some questions:
- How best to remove the three layers of color coat. I've used the old cut away fabric for some testing. Acetone, denatured alcohol and Xylol (xylene). Also some 220 wet/dry sandpaper. Some reading tells me acetone is a no go. Denatured alcohol may work, but it may require several drums of elbow grease and 80-100 hours. The xylol seems to work but may work too well; it may affect the contact cement underneath.
- When originally covered, the assumption is that part of the strength of the contact cement bond was that it soaked into the fibers of the cloth. Obviously, that would not be happening here.
Fig. 1: Sort of like an aileron.
Fig. 2: Look what they did to my boy...
Fig. 3: Cleaned up, but do I really want to go back and forth to the hanger every time a coat of paint is drying?
Fig. 4: Nope. Wing's got to come off.
Fig. 5: Surf's Up
Fig. 6: The easy part is done.
I'd be grateful for any advice or experience you'd be willing to share.
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