Attachment of gearleg/fuselage intersection fairing

[erich weaver]

I purchased the various fiberglass farings from Farings Etc. They generally fit quite well and Im happy with them, but was wondering what others have done with respect to attachment of the upper gearleg/fuselage intersection farings. The instructions merely say to attach them with a minimum of four screws, but nothing about how to anchor the screws (nutplates I assume - but kind of a pain in the arse at this late stage of construction.)

Furthermore, there really is not enough room along the limited flat part around the edges of the fairing flanges to place a screw with a countersunk washer. The screws will not be able to penetrate the fuselage bottom skin or Vans' aluminum wing root fairing perpendicularly unless the flange of the flaring lies completely flat against them, which only occurs right up at the edge of the fairing flanges. Ok, I guess I can do some fiberglass work and extend the flange of the farings to make some room, but geez, I thought these things were gonna SAVE me a bunch fiber glass work. Cant I be done yet?

Hope my description can be followed ok. Any tips appreciated.

erich

[robertahegy]

I used only two anchor points on my 7A, one at each end. This seems to be just fine. The screws have nutplates attached to the fuselage. No problem attaching the nutplates on the completed fuselage and the fairings did not interfere with the root fairings.

Roberta

[Ron Lee]

From recollection, two in front of the spar inboard, two in back of the spar inboard and two outboard that have nutplates in the wing to fuselage metal fairing. I have not tried to use the tinnerman washers yet.

This on a completed 6A.

So you can try the Roberta minimalistic, adequate, lighter and simpler approach or the Ron "Tim Allen" approach. Or something inbetween.

[Ironflight]

I have just two screws on each fairing on my -8, and I used rivnuts to attach them - there was no way to get in and do nut plates at that point in construction. They hold just fine, but I am always careful when putting in those screws not to overtighten and spin the rivnuts!

Paul

[Rick6a]

In a telephone conversation with Bob Snedacker, owner of Fairings-Etc, he suggested to me the following super easy procedure for attachment and for me at least, works perfectly. After drilling a small pilot hole for each screw, I attached the upper intersection fairings with #6 sheet metal screws. According to Bob, in the unlikely event the holes ever get wallowed out...then step up to #8 sheet metal screws. If those ever fail...then you can always use #10 sheet metal screws or ream the holes for nutplates or rivnuts. Bob seems to be right. After two years of flying and periodic removal, the fairings continue to remain firmly attached with four #6 sheet metal screws per fairing.

[Scott Will]

Used a few screws and #6 nutplates. But what I did to beef up the structure for the screws and provide a countersink was to: use epoxy/flox to build up areas between the fairing and the skin. Put some clear packing tape on the fuse, slather the mixture on there and let it cure. This provides a little more stiffness for those screws and also provides some depth for countersinking.

[Bob Axsom]

Made my own and attached with 4 #8 Platenuts and screws and dimple washers. The clay and fiberglass was not a difficult job and the fit is perfect.

Bob Axsom

[kentb]

This is an 9A so one screw forward inboard (ahead of the spar). One screw outboard in the wing root fairing. The last screw on the inboard back aft of the spar.
After drilling holes for the screw through the fairing and the attach skin, I taped a piece of wax paper to the bottom of the fuse and then mixed some resin with flox in it. Pasted some on the inside of the fairing all around and then clecoed it in place. Pushed more around all the edges where there was a gap between the fairing and the fuse.
After every thing was hard trimmed and smoothed the new edge shape on to the fairing. These fairing were nice place to start with, but I did need to work on them some to get the fit that I wanted.

Kent

[Capflyer]

Originally Posted by Rick6a

After drilling a small pilot hole for each screw, I attached the upper intersection fairings with #6 sheet metal screws. According to Bob, in the unlikely event the holes ever get wallowed out...then step up to #8 sheet metal screws. If those ever fail...then you can always use #10 sheet metal screws or ream the holes for nutplates or rivnuts. Bob seems to be right. After two years of flying and periodic removal, the fairings continue to remain firmly attached with four #6 sheet metal screws per fairing.

Rick,

I am at this point where I need to attach my upper intersection fairings and was considering using sheet metal screws because everything inside the plane is closed up. Where did you mount the screws in the fairings? Do you have any pictures? My other thought was to use rivnuts but as Paul said they run the risk of turning so it was not my first choice.

Thanks