I've not skinned a foam core wing with 1/16" balsa or used film on a wing
for about 15 years, but had occasion to do one just recently. As a result I
stumbled on to a new hinging idea that I like better than anything for such
a wing. Bear with me, please for some background.
Some months back, friend Winston Okerlund came up with the idea of
"individual Kevlar hinges". This is detailed in File 9 at
http://genie.rchomepage.com. I'd done several such hinging installations on
wings where glass and CF skins were vacuum-bagged directly to the foam
cores. In these cases the hinges were inserted under the skin.
On this wing just done, I did not want to face the vertical hingeline
surfaces with balsa, etc., so the usual options were rather limited. .
namely continuous tape or "Z" hinges made out of film covering, etc.
Then I wondered if the "individual Kevlar hinges" could be surface mounted
after the wing was covered. I found that the hinges, if sprayed with 3M77,
stuck very tenaciously to Monokote sealed well to balsa, but could still be
carefully peeled away if necessary without tearing the Monokote.
I surface mounted the 1" x 1-1/2" hinges on the bottom for the flaps and on
top for the ailerons. Deflection is very easy and the hinges are really
strong.
To me, Kevlar is ugly, so I cut a bunch of 3/4" x 2" pieces of Monokote to
heat seal over them, either side of the hingeline. Just a fine line of the
Kevlar shows. The film on top was yellow, so for decorative purposes, I cut
the pieces from red and yellow Monokote and alternated the colors as I
sealed over the hinges.
Wow. . .that will get some notice!
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