Repairing a Glass Fibre Fuselage Soarer

[wonwinglo]

'Halford's' do a good spray and fill paint aswell. covers and fills any small imperfections at the same time. I have used it on model boat hulls before the final sanding. :zoo_taz:

*** Great stuff George,it is called 'High Build' primer,the material flows into inperfections and sands easily,it is acrylic based as well.

Nice job Dave on the fuselage,I have been listening and watching with great interest how you have gone about this job.

[Glider Guider]

The fuselage is now sprayed up and although the repair is not undetectable it is pretty good and only someone who knew it was there would spot it.

I sprayed it with high build primer but there were some small but deep holes that needed a dab of filler, it was then sprayed using thinned Flair Spectrum that gives good results.

I was giving the fuselage its final coat when I thought that I’d need another tin to finish off the model – that’s when the penny dropped. Flair went bust a couple of weeks ago so when present stocks have gone that’s it, no more paint, so I got on to my local model shop and managed to get one of their last tins – phew!

I’m now fitting new servo boxes into the wing to suit the new mini servos I treated myself to and then I just have to spray the flying surfaces before taking it to the hill. The PIK has a total of 9 servos so a big battery will be called for.

I’ll post some photos of the completed model when it is finished.

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[Glider Guider]

The PIK 20 is complete and ready for the slopes.

[Guest]

Hi really enjoyed your article on the pic 20. I have a Vaga that’s been in the shed for a number of years, wings had been solar filmed unfortunately damp has got into the later part of the wing tips causing a warp and delamination of veneer. Do you think I could glass fibre my way back into the air with this type of problem? And do you have an article waiting in the wings on the subject, as I do not have a clue about glassing a 2mtr long wing. Mark.

[Glider Guider]

I’m pleased you found my ‘article’ interesting Mark especially if it helps motivate you into restoring your Vega.

If I was in your position I would carefully remove the veneer from the whole wing, however if some of the veneer is still so well bonded that it won’t come off easily leave it as you must not damage the surface of the foam core. Obechi veneer is not easy to find but I noticed some on Ebay yesterday, 10 off 36” x 6” packs plus instructions on its use for £12.50 inc P&P which seems a good price. I use Copydex used as a contact adhesive to stick down my veneer, this works well but is quite expensive.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=34056&item=5987886727&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

I would always cover the wing with glass on a high aspect ratio wing as it gives a lot of extra strength at the expense of a bit of weight gain. To bond the glass you can either use epoxy resin or one of the new water based adhesives.

There are two water based adhesives that I know of Poly C and Skincrylic (from Falcon Aviation http://www.falcon-aviation.com). Do a search for Poly C on this board as Greyhead started a tutorial thread a while back that is quite informative.

As to which to use on your Vega? If you can remove all of the old veneer and totally recover the wing with a good bond then I would go for one of the water based products as they are nicer to use, but if you can only partly re-veneer then I would use epoxy resin as my gut feeling is that it gives more strength to the wing plus there is no chance of the water base causing areas of veneer to lift where they are not fully bonded.

If using epoxy resin apply the resin with a roller not a brush and use many thin coats as thick coats can cause disappointing results, rollers and materials are available from Fibretech http://www.fibretechgb.co.uk.

I bought a ‘started’ Pat Teakle HP-18 recently, unfortunately some not so careful previous owner has rather butchered one wing so I will need to glass it and I will write it up for this forum but it won’t be for a while yet I’m afraid. I had a word with the Falcon Aviation rep at the Teeside MFC Show and he said to lay the glass over the wing and but a heavy(ish) strip of adhesive down the length of the wing then brush this out towards the leading and trailing edges. If either the leading or trailing edges are straight then you can use one piece of glass cloth, do one side leave it until it is almost dry then turn the wing over and quickly do the other side.

Hope this helps.

[Guest]

Hi David

Thanks for your mail unfortunately missed ebay sale work has blocked it out so could not get on to the site. Thanks for the info have spoken to several people about glassing wing and have most of the information I need, can you recommend the weight of cloth that I will need for the job. Also the wing joiner is fitted but there is no method of clamping wings in position, just seems to rely on the wing staying butted up to the fuss on its own is this the norm. I would like to convert the wings over to having servos in them you said you were fitting some in yours can you tell me the torque rating I would need for ailerons and flaps. Mark.

[Glider Guider]

Mark

I use 0.8 oz/sq. yard glass cloth for my models. On the PIK 20 it is only the friction of the carbon fibre rod in its wing tube that keeps it in place but it is such that the wing has no chance of coming off in the air. On 100" gliders I used to put a small hook into the end rib of both wings and connect them together with elastic bands via a hole in the fuselage, better safe than sorry if you feel there is any chance of shedding a wing in flight.

My choice of servo for the ailerons and flaps was the GWS Micro 2BBMG as they have small profile and almost bury themselves into the wing, have a high 75 oz-in (5.4 kg-cm) torque and are at an affordable price. For the spoilers a standard Futaba 128 was already fitted when I bought it.