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Mike James -> Hmmm (8/22/2003 5:53:14 AM)
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Well, it's true that you can fiberglass foam, (You didn't mention sheeting it with balsa first) but...
There are "issues" with just glassing foam, especially for an aerobatic plane, where stresses may be high. You'd have to use several layers of glass to equal a typical balsa-sheeted (glassed or not) foam wing. One of the biggest problems is that if you damage the skin, say by denting or creasing it, you have a very weak wing left, with only foam for structure. Byron offered the foam-glassing option on their kits, but this was not ordinary styrofoam...They were injection molded, and quite a bit stronger, plus they had a molded-in metal spar.
You could use 1 lb. density foam (1/3rd the weight of what you're describing) then sheet it with lightweight 1/16th" balsa, then glass it with very light weight cloth, such as .75 oz. cloth, and you'd have a much stronger wing, that could endure some minor skin damage without failing.
In any case, you'd want to create a spar structure, but I'm sure you know that.
By the way, an 18% airfoil will work, but there are many fine flying aerobatic planes today with airfoils in the 10% to 12% range.
Good luck.
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