DonStegall

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While sheeting foam core wings may not sound like a composites topic, the way I do them makes them very much like a hollow core molded wing in terms of strength. They don't come out of a mold ready to paint or use, but after finishing the wing with cloth on the outside or even plastic covering, they are very strong.

I worked out a technique for sheeting Quickie 500 wings using approximately one ounce of epoxy on a 10.5" x 48" wing skin. I roll it on using thing foam rollers. Then I lay down 0.7 ounce cloth on the skin and roll it out. This is just enough epoxy to wet the fiberglass cloth. Then I put on carbon fiber laminate with a small amount of additional epoxy. I put the skins on with porous release film between the shuck and the balsa so that the epoxy that comes through the skin doesn't stick to the shuck. I pin the assembly together and put paper towels all around the block as breather. This also keeps the T-pins I use from rupturing the vacuum bag.

I recently made a video on preparing the materials.

http://youtu.be/JJ69Q3sThnk I have a complete series on the techniques as I have developed them and the YouTube playlist is at Sheeting Quickie Wings.

I will be doing a new video that shows the complete lay-up process with the carbon fiber laminate on the trailing edge.