J

jim

Well Known Member
Hi guys,

I am about to upgrade to the fiberglass gearleg fairings and upper gearleg intersection fairings. I currently have metal in these areas on my 6. The lower intersection fairings are glass on the pressure recovery wheelpants. The options seem to be Vans gearleg fairings and the intersection fairings from fairings etc. vs team rocket fairings. My question is has anyone actually seen both before they were finished, or better yet, actually made both. I am looking for comparisons as to the quality of the glass as well as the fit. I like the looks of the fairings etc intersection fairings, but am concerned about the Vans gearleg fairings considering the complaints on the quality of glass from Vans. The rocket fairings seem to be priced ok, but only work with rocket intersection fairings according to their site. I am not sure whose lower fairings the builder used on this plane. I have zero glassing experience but can learn, however I don't want the plane down forever working on this either and the premade stuff seemed a faster approach to this.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance,
 
If I understand correctly, you've got pressure recovery wheel pants with the intersections glassed on to them. If all you're changing is the leg fairings, can't you just use the existing wheel pants and maybe a little cutting/glassing to make them fit the new leg fairings? This has got to be a whole lot easier and cheaper than starting from scratch.
 
Depending on how picky you are, you may or may not be happy with the premade fairings.
I used Fairings Etc. intersection fairings for both ends. For the wheel pants, the fit at the gear leg fairings was not that great and I ended up cutting them off at the pant and remaking them from that point. The fuselage int fairings were better, but I still ended up adding parts to them and they still need work to get a snug fit on the gear leg fairings.
For me, I would make them from scratch if I could do it over again. It might actually be easier.
If you are ok with a less than perfect fit, then they are a good way to go.
As far as the gear leg fairings go, I have tried both the rocket and VAN's fairings. I prefer VAN's just because I prefer their shape. (I don't have any experience with the intersection fairings from VAN's.)
Just my opinion.
 
gear leg fairings

Thanks for the replies guys,

Steve, I hope to use the existing pants and glass lower intersection fairings, just want to replace gear leg fairings and upper intersection fairings which are metal and are pretty bad. Hoping to pick up significant speed, the right side metal upper fairing shifts inboard on the front to a point where it is under the cowl and allows the gear leg fairing to internally rotate. I have to adjust it every time I land, (hopefully before anyone sees it, its ugly!). They are "held" in place with safety wire and springs, pretty cheesy. The upper fairings don't appear to be aerodynamically shaped at all. I thought about anchoring them in place with screws but want to go with the glass ones and will anchor them as well as make them more aerodynamically acceptable. The tabs on the gear fairings busted a long time ago.


sf3543, did you notice any major problems or significant differences with the quality of the glass on the Vans gear leg fairings, compared to the rocket fairings? I am leaning toward the vans for the gear legs, and the fairings etc for the uppers, hopefully being able to keep the wheel pants and lower fairings as they exist.

After I get these done then I am going to look at the left aileron which is bowed along the back edge, and the hinge is a little low on the inboard end of the aileron. May have to make a new aileron and redo the hinge if thats possible. Then thinking about doing something about the air getting in and out of the canopy. This plane should go faster than it does and I think these are the easy or biggest gain areas to start with.

Thanks again,
 
I thought the quality was about the same for both Rocket and VAN's.
VAN's had better instructions though, if you've never done it before. Also, the Rocket fairings are wider and will probably not fit in the old wheel pant fairings for sure.
I sold the RV6, but this link shows the new owner and the plane...you can see how the fairings look. The fuse int fairings were home made.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?...FP&photo_nr=2&prev_id=1089911&next_id=1084982
 
Van's and Tracy Saylor's

My fiberglass nose strut fairing is from Van's and the quality is very good. The main landing gear strut fairings were purchased from Tracy Saylor and they are also very good. The techniques and instructions from Tracy Saylor were so good that I used his methods for the nose gear strut fairing as well. I made all of my own intersection fairings. Like you I had no previous experience but it was a very worthwhile task - I now have the experience with a low risk project and the fit is perfect. I decided how I was going to do the job in general terms and as I progressed certain observations I made allowed me to refine the process and the fairing design. The shape is pretty much automatic the more significant details are in the method of installation and the provisions for maintenance. I bought modeling clay and packed it in the intersections and shaped them the way I wanted them to look. I put car wax on the surfaces where I did not want the fiberglass to stick and cut strips of glass cloth soaked them with epoxy resin and layed them on the clay and surfaces where I wanted the fairing to be. When it cured I removed the flimsy single ply fiberglass and dug out the clay. The two things established were the fit and the basic contours. I built up the fairings with more layers of slow cure E-Z Poxy (24 hrs) resin and fiberglass one layer at a time until I had the structure I wanted. My main wheel intersection fairings are built up right on the wheel fairings and they split at the wheel fairing split line as actual parts of the fairings. My upper main intersection fairings ara also two parts but they are more complex. The split lines are on the inside in alignment with the strut and on the trailing edge. An aluminum tab is riveted to the inside of the fwd part of the fairing and it extends back under the smaller aft inside part of the fairing. There are two vertically place platenuts on the tab. There are four platenut on the bottom of the wing and the fuselage for mounting the two fairing parts - two fwd and two aft and two of them are on the inboard side and two are on the outboard side. Thus, three mounting points are provided for each of the two fairing parts. I have an "A" model so there is an intersection fairing required at the bottom of the cowl. I made two aluminum baseplates and mated them with the cowl (front) and the aft cowl support structure (aft) I used platenutes on the cowl and the aft cowl support structure to establish the machanical interface for the fairing halves then used the clay and fiberglass to build up the fairing shape just like the others. The split line here is in line with the forward slope of the nose gear strut. These have worked out very well. At 250 hours of use there are no problems whatsoever and the fit is perfect.

Bob Axsom
 
fairings

Guys,

Thanks again for the ideas. Bob, what you described sounds interesting and solid. Do you have any pictures. I am having trouble visualizing the two vertical platenuts off the tab that extends beyond the cut line in line with the strut. What attaches to those two platenuts. Is it the front and back(smaller) pieces of the intersection fairing or is it somehow attached to the gear leg fairing in that spot?

Thanks again,
 
The rear piece

Those are for the rear (aft inboard quarter) piece of the fairing. The large piece is attached to the wing & fuselage by three screws and the small piece has its three attach points on the lower part of the fuselage (0ne) and the tab platenuts (two). There are six screws in all.my final installation holes are 3/8" dia. and I use #8 stainless steel screws and dimpled washers from Aircraft Spuuce as the installation hardware. I tried to attach copies of all five farings but exceeded forum capacity limits. I can e-mail them to you if you like.

Bob Axsom

Upper Main LG:
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pics

Bob,

Thanks! Those are the pics I needed to see, looks like a good way to do the job. Now I need to decide if I want to make them up myself or spring for the fairings etc uppers. I have to get the glass stuff anyway for the 8 I'm working on so maybe I'll give it a try with the uppers (gonna get vans for the gear legs) and give it a go. The intersection fairings seemed kind of pricey.

Thanks again,
 
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