I am replying to Harry's wing recovering question for the whole group...because it is important.
>I am considering recovering my wings as I do the "Hole thing" - and wonder if >anyone has any ideas about how to achieve the sculpture on the underside of >the leading edge of the Ercoupe airfoil ? Last time I did this was in 1982, >and used Stitts polyfiber - plan to do the same thing this time. I was not >happy about the way the fabric attached to the underside and did not >completely folllow the reverse conture of the underside leading edge. Will >polytac adhear sufficiently to achieve this proper conture ? I think so, but >would appreciate any comments.. and experiences. I don't think it affected the >flying qualities, but I never was really happy with it. I looked at a bunch of coupes at the 1996 nationals at Kitty Hawk and took copius notes in anticipation of doing this to my wings.I'm working on my wings, about to finish, but I did this already and it worked very nicely. The Stitts Polyfiber Manual tells you how to do concave surfaces. (The manual is at home or I'd quote you chapter, verse and page...and I may do that later anyway.) DO NOT glue the fabric to the concave ribs with polytac cement. Just glue to the leading edge and the trailing edge of the wing. Then do the first stage heat shrink over the whole wing with your iron. It takes one screw and washer to screw the fabric down to each of these ribs in the center. As I recall, the ribs are about 12 inches long and the hole is 6 inches from either end. Believe it or not, that one screw brings the fabric down to where it touches the rib along its entire length. Then you do the final stage heat shrink over the whole wing with your iron. If you glue it down to those ribs, the heat shrinking process will try to pull and unglue it. And you have to screw the fabric down or the fabric will flap against the ribs when you are flying. I'm pretty sure this is correct, but I'll check the manual and let you know. Pete, N3552H -------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- E. T. "Pete" Petrie Computer Science at My friend Dean Brock says, "Either you Wilkes Community College believe in the Law of the Excluded Middle Box 120, Collegiate Drive or you don't." Me...I'm a little fuzzy Wilkesboro, NC 28697 about it! Fon: 336.838.6185 9am-4pm EST Fax: 336.838.6277 24 hours -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- -
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