B1-RD strike force takes out RV-7A

[Geico266]

Could be worse, you could be the bird!

[wingtime]

I have a buddy of mine who has a "Dent Dr." business. You know those guys who do paintless dent repair. I've seen him take out hail damage on a car with no paint work and no trace of the damage. Amazing. He said he has removed dents from all kinds of crazy stuff even refrigerators. They have special tools to get into tight places. Unfortunately I think you will need some paint work. I'd try finding one of these guys in your area and have them give you a price on it. Try calling car dealers, body shops or even your insurance agent to find who is the best in your area.

Good luck

[KTM520guy]

That looks like a simple repair. With luck very little in the way of filler would be needed. The paint is an easy repair also. No worries, mate.

[Rocket]

should be a very easy fix, like bruce said, doesn't appear to be structural, but a great lookin plane otherwise!! good luck gettin her all patched up!!

[hecilopter]

Poplawski early this morning. He said, "I think I can fix that" (but not right now)

So I guess I will schedule with him as soon as he can and leave it in his capable hands. Thanks for all the replies and suggestions! Can't wait to get it looking normal again, I just hate opening the hangar and seeing that! This is what it SHOULD look like...

[Laird]

Originally Posted by Webb

At least you can get to it. Could have been much worse....say gas tank or heaven forbid, the !^#^$%&#& canopy.

You mean like this story.....
http://www.vansairforce.net/articles...windshield.htm

[RV8MW]

A FREIND OF MINE HIT ONE TWO WEEKS AGO ON A RV6A IN EXACTLY THE SAME SPOT. HE HAS ALL READY FIXED IT BASICALLY THE WAY ROCKETBOB EXPLAINED. AFTER HE MADE THE FORM FOR THE LEADING EDGE AND USED A JACK INSIDE YOU COULD HARDLY EVEN SEE THE DENT IT TOOK VERY LITTLE BONDO.

[John H]

Hi All,

Bird strikes are a common event in Coastal Florida. A number of pilots call "Dent Doctor", we have one in Daytona Beach that is great. When he gets done a little polosh is all that is necessary.

John H.

[vernhendershott]

We had one that was worse than that and it was in the third bay in from the wing tip so we could not reach it well enough to work it from the tip as are arms were just not long enough. We made a hard wood block from a pice of oak salvaged from a wood truck pallet. We were able to get a very good fit by using the first bay inside of the wing tip to fit it to the exact shape of the leading edge. When this tool was finished to a vert smooth sanded finish it was used like a bucking bar to push out the dent from the back and to be a form to use to smoth the leading edge aginst. It was necesarry to cut a four inch hole in the lower skin about 12 inches behind the leading edge to get acess. The leading edge was returned to the correct shape and smothness with good and careful tin work, it was so smoth that no bondo or that kind of filler was needed, the area was sanded back to primer and hit with a coat of the original high fill primer and sanded to the desired smothness for painting, then the paint was repaired per the original paint build up. The whole cut was flush patched with a flush rivited doubler and cherry flush rivited patch which was then lightly filled with Super Fill and the area preped and repainted like the leading edge.

The aircraft won best workmanship at Sun-N-fun after the repair and if you were not told you would not find the repair. It only took us 20 hours to do all the work up to paint prep to do the repair and return the aircraft to flight, the paint took a long evening as it takes about ten layers to follow the original coating system and there was a lot of tapeing to repair the difrent colors and pin stripes.

You are in luck as you can work through the landing light hole and from the wing tip end (with the wing tip removed). With good work you may only need to buff out the paint when finished the tin work, good luck.

Best regards,
Vern

[6S4 Hugo]

I've always wondered if something like this could be used for removing dents. I'm not an engineer, so I can't tell you the hardness specs between aluminum and brass. The system uses a rare earth magnet and a smooth steel ball placed on opposing sides of the metal. The steel balls come in graduated sizes to fit into tight places or to cover large areas.

Note, if you wear a pacemaker, you don't want to get close to this thing.