I'm really quite pleased with how it turned out!
It took (only) five straight days of roughly 8 hours each to (mostly) finish the wing covering. Maybe I am detail-oriented and couldn't leave a wrinkle, but I think it just takes this long to do it reasonably well. But it's (basically) done!
The qualifiers are for the cutouts for the aileron linkages and to check over that nothing else is left to do. Oh I do need a second shrink, going to 300F instead of the 250F initial shrink that you see.
Alrighty, here is the second wing up on sawhorses and ready for some air-proofing...
Here is a closeup of the trailing edge attachment with the bottom covering partially attached. This was the method I found best covered this area, which leaves the lower angle bracket exposed.
The leading edge root area is similarly covered except for the bottom angle bracket. This seems logical.
The bottom covering is shown here completed, and preparations for the top are ready. Around the trailing edge tube is roughly 2 inches of adhesive for fabric to tube.
Starting not long after sunrise on day number five is the last of the four wing skins. It is still interesting to see where it starts before even working the perimeter.
The wing tips were another neat area. The lower surface wraps all the way to the tip bow piece, so the upper merely wraps around the one tube. Curvature here is pretty tight. I was able to work the fabric around with gentle heat so there were no wrinkles at all. Maybe this is why it took five days to cover the wings, but it all seems worth the effort and patience. Obviously the next step from this picture was to mark and trim to the line, then the covering was locked in with another application of glue-and-wipe.
Done! The hole for the aileron cross-thru is much larger than it probably needs to be, but I saw no downside being able to stick my whole arm into the hole.
As a final act on Goat for the near-term, all of the parts and pieces have been brought back into the garage together. It feels good to have everything back in a single pile.
Next up is paint.
2 comments:
Dan, I have similar size hole in the root of my left wing. I use it to connect the thru cable. Discovered this prior to covering and dispensed with the undersurface inspection port. Alan (Yando Goat)
Hi Alan! Good to know you don't have issues with the large hole at the root. I had already put in the "stock" inspection port under the wing, so guess I have even easier access. The hatch cover seems to stay in place and cover the inspection port nicely enough.
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