I had come to the conclusion very long ago that the main reason that there are a million boat stage KRs for sale or wasting away in the corners of shops everywhere is that people are afraid of the glass work. They do the wood part because it is familiar to them then as soon as it comes time to work with foam and glass they overthink things and are afraid to start. It is really a shame because the glass work is as easy, or easier, than the wood work and the majority of people can do a great job with no prior experience. There might be three or four times as many KRs flying if it were not for this self-inflicted stumbling block.
The thin plywood skin is intriguing to me because someone that has built the boat would probably keep right on building once it got to that stage and the way thin plywood bends I think you could very likely get a perfect looking skin very easily without the filling and sanding. This could be done with a foam core or with built-up or plywood ribs. Many other planes use plywood skins on ribs. Not sure if any use plywood on foam or not. I would think that ribs would probably be better. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: KR> WING SKIN From: Larry&Sallie Flesner <flesner at frontier.com> List-Post: [email protected] Date: Tue, March 04, 2014 6:48 pm To: KRnet <krnet at list.krnet.org> Someone famous once said " the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". And so it goes with fiberglass. The only thing you have to fear is developing an allergy to the resin.
