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PIN 37

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I have just started to fit my wing tips. They have been stored for a couple of years and the R/H one seems to be badly warped. My knowledge of fibreglass is zero. Is this tip a throw away item or can it be recovered. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as shipping such a large item to Australia would cost a small fortune.
Wingtip001.jpg
 
I feel your pain

I had the same problem with my wingtips. I think that most of the flat top wingtips warp in that area. What I did was to drill and cleco lengths of 3/4 X 3/4 aluminum angle perpendicular to the warping to to flatten the warp. Then I used a heat gun to heat the area. The heat removed a majority of the warp. After that I removed the angles and did a lot of filling and sanding with epoxy and micro.
Another idea that was mentioned to me was to get some fiberglass angle and attach to the inside of the wing tip with flox.
 
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As a general rule...

...pretty much anything is fixable in fiberglass. I'd be tempted to lay up a couple layers of fiberglass on the wing to get the right curvature (either top or bottom...whichever has the problem), cut it into a rectangle, cut a matching hole in the wingtip, and patch it in. Might get tricky to blend closer to the tip, but is definitely do-able.

Don't forget to cover your wing with packing tape or similar to allow the patch to release easily.

Good luck!
 
As mentioned above, a little warmth from a heat gun will bring that out.

To maintain the shape, we used 1" square section lengths of blue foam epoxied inside - 1 lengthways and 3 short ones span wise.

Light glass cloth over - rock solid and very light with no mess on the outside. 1st saw it on here somewhere.
 
Apparently Vans hires a specialist to build wingtips, somebody transported by time machine from Lower Slobovia circa 1960. Nobody else remembered how to make cheap polyester parts quite as badly.
 
DanH said:
Apparently Vans hires a specialist to build wingtips, somebody transported by time machine from Lower Slobovia circa 1960. Nobody else remembered how to make cheap polyester parts quite as badly.
Click to expand...


:D:good one, Dan:D
 
Fixable

There is a rib going into that particular area and it will shape thing a bit. If warp is really bad try to epoxy some stiffeners inside it. Could be aluminum, wood or foam. Takes a little time but recoverable for sure.
 
Reinforcement

Check on the left side under Articles. I have a tutorial on how to reinforce the tips. Use the method of clecoing some straight metal in there, heat and that should help. Laminate some reinforcement in and they should be fine.

I agree with Dan. I have talked to Tom and Scott about the poor quality of the glass. I said that builders would gladly pay more money for higher quality fiberglass. They thought it would upset some.
 
DanH said:
Apparently Vans hires a specialist to build wingtips, somebody transported by time machine from Lower Slobovia circa 1960. Nobody else remembered how to make cheap polyester parts quite as badly.
Click to expand...

Now that was a morning-coffee-out-the-nose comment :D

Oh yeah, to add to the chorus, use heat. Don't be shy. Polyester is easy to soften and move around, and if you follow the advice given by others to make some support prior to adding the heat, you'll get rid of most of the warpage.
 
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Thanks guys, I have started the recovery process as suggested here, I will put a couple reinforcing ribs in and see what happens. :)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanH
Apparently Vans hires a specialist to build wingtips, somebody transported by time machine from Lower Slobovia circa 1960. Nobody else remembered how to make cheap polyester parts quite as badly.
Is that the guy who invented the cardboard car?
 
Well, I have been working on the wing tip ( see post No 1 ) and it wasnt going too badly until I got to the aileron end and started trying to fit the filler rib. I had got most of the warpage out by putting in ribs as suggested here, but the very edge is still warped so that it pulls the wing skin out of line.
Man, these things are RUBBISH. I think I will end up spending as much time fitting the tips as I did building the wing itself.:(:(:( Is there anybody else that makes better quality tips??
 
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