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Glassing wing? - 2/13/2006 9:35:51 PM   
burgster


 

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I am building my first q-40 plane, and I am just wondering how you guys glass wings. Do you use peel ply or mylar? Do you use two peices of glass (top and bottom peices with seams trailing and leading edges), or can you do it in one peice (seam on trailing edge) Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
thanks,
Jeff
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RE: Glassing wing? - 2/13/2006 10:14:11 PM   
HighPlains


 

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Are you asking about how to glass a traditional foam core with balsa sheeting?

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RE: Glassing wing? - 2/13/2006 10:41:38 PM   
daven



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Are you glassing the wing for strength, or primarily to paint?

Personally I'd lay the glass up on painted mylar and bag.

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RE: Glassing wing? - 2/13/2006 11:47:39 PM   
burgster


 

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Its a traditional sheeted foam wing, and I am glassing for strength. i want to race 422 with it, and I can't afford a composite q-40.
thanks,
Jeff

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RE: Glassing wing? - 2/14/2006 1:20:10 AM   
daven



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I've never built a balsa sheeted wing for q40, so your going to have to get your answers elsewhere. I'm sure someone will chime in soon.

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RE: Glassing wing? - 2/14/2006 4:49:20 AM   
HighPlains


 

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It would be difficult to deal with compound curves with bagging.

However, thousands of Formula Ones were built with glassing after the wing construction.

How I would do it:

Prepare the skins, align balsa grain with leading edge, sand smooth both sides before bonding to cores. Use 6 to 8 lb. wood, with 3/32 on top and bottom. Glue some .007 carbon 1/2" wide to the bottom skin on inside before sheeting cores. Put a strip at least half span at the thickest point. Doesn't need any on top skin, since it will be in compression only in racing. Finish shaping wings to get ready for glass.

I prefer polyester resin because it gives the hardest surface, but stinks like hell. Glass the bottom surfaces first with 3/4 oz. glass. After it sets, sand around the edges with 320 paper to cut off the glass at the edges. Then glass the top with a bit of overlap on the leading edge. When putting on the resin, just mix it up, and pour it on in the middle of the surface and squeege it to wet the cloth, working out the wrinkles as you go. Squeege it as thin as you can.

After you have the glass on, squeege on a second coat of resin and let it set. At this point you can wet sand very lightly to skuff the surface up slightly. Go ahead and cut the ailerons, insert torque tubes (from bottom) and cut hinges. Fill behind the torque rods and sand smooth. Also do the landing gear blocks, and wing hold downs at this point. If you use epoxy, be sure it is compatable with the resin system. If not sure, you can smear a barrier layer of white glue over the epoxy.

Now add the center section glass. Use three layers of 2 oz. cloth, with the widest layer on first. Make the first layer widest at front (10-12" tapered to about 5-6" at trailing edge. Second layer is about 2/3" the width of the first, and the third is about 1/3 of the first. Place all three layers on the same time and resin it on with light squeege action. To get a smooth surface, place the waxy surface of wax paper onto the wet resin and smooth out the air pockets. Let it set up, then peal off wax paper and throw away. Trim and sand afterward, then do the other side of wing.

After the center is glassed and lightly sanded, you may want to squeege on one more coat of resin, and wet sand with 320. Use a 3M sanding block, sanding with circular motions. You can achieve an amazing finish with a bit of work, but be careful not to sand through the glass. When 80-90% of the surface looks dull when wiped down, you are finished and ready for primer.

It is a bunch of work, and the wing performance depends on how well you shape it and sand the surface. But you can also make minor changes over molded designs that are locked into what ever the designer thought right at the time. For instance, you might consider slightly more area, washout, or change to wing sweep.

As far as surface shape and finish, the leading edge and first 1/3 of the airfoil is critical. The rest of the chord, no so much. Make and use templates on the leading edge, while on the rest use the shadows moving across the surface when you hold the wing up to late afternoon sun and slowly rotate the wing. If the shadow skips and jumps, you have sanded flat spots and the performance will suffer. If you get the leading edge too high or too low, the performance will suffer. Take your time, sand and shape it over the course of several days and you will do a better job.

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RE: Glassing wing? - 2/14/2006 4:51:18 AM   
HighPlains


 

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It is quite a bit of work. You might be better off taking a second job at 7-11 and buying a molded wing.............................nnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaawwwww

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RE: Glassing wing? - 2/14/2006 8:34:15 PM   
burgster


 

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Thanks for all the info, I will let you know how it comes out!
Jeff

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RE: Glassing wing? - 8/8/2006 2:57:25 PM   
oddy


 

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Burgster:

Do you have any pics of your glassed wings.

How do they work? Im begining on a Q40 project, and I will be glassing Foam/Balsa wings too.

Thanks in advance.
VĂ­ctor.

< Message edited by oddy -- 8/8/2006 2:59:59 PM >


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RE: Glassing wing? - 8/8/2006 7:51:27 PM   
kane


 

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Burgster,

I have glassed several 422 wings. There are no issues with bagging. The tips do get very tricky with MYLAR. However, the best success I had was with peel ply. Apply your strength layers in the centersection, then one pc of .75 oz per panel overlapping in the centersection. I always cut my cloth on a bias for strength. After applying all layers of cloth I applied peel ply used a squeegee to smooth it out. I turned the wing over on newspaper and did the top. Bottom was done first and rolled over the leading edge (peel ply is short of LE but long at TE). Once the wing was done, I taped the tip so that the peel ply wouldn't open when placed in the bag. Once in the bag and vacum started you must smooth out the wrinkles. IF I did one today this is how I would do it.

Dan

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RE: Glassing wing? - 8/8/2006 9:05:55 PM   
fizzwater2


 

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this may be a dumb question, but what exactly is "peel ply"?

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RE: Glassing wing? - 8/14/2006 10:14:34 PM   
DHG


 

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Hey, old guy. Peel ply is like glasscloth, but the resin doesn't stick to it. It sucks the extra resin out of the glasscloth, then when the resin is cured, you take everything out of the bag, peel off the peel-ply, give it a shake, and the extra resin falls out like pixie dust.

Or something like that.

Another Old Guy

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RE: Glassing wing? - 8/14/2006 10:39:17 PM   
js3



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quote:

ORIGINAL: DHG

Hey, old guy. Peel ply is like glasscloth, but the resin doesn't stick to it. It sucks the extra resin out of the glasscloth, then when the resin is cured, you take everything out of the bag, peel off the peel-ply, give it a shake, and the extra resin falls out like pixie dust.

Or something like that.

Another Old Guy


Old guys,

I think you'd have a hard time separating the peel ply from the breather. At least the way I do it that would be the case. Excess resin is pulled by vacuum through the peel ply layer into the breather layer.

After de-bagging, be careful not to pull the glass cloth off the wood when removing the peel ply. I did that once. I grabbed and pulled one too many layers. DOH!

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RE: Glassing wing? - 8/14/2006 10:58:22 PM   
fizzwater2


 

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Old guy? I resemble that remark..

Ok - this so-called "breather" layer - I assume it's to allow the vacuum to spread, and to soak up the excess resin (epoxy, whatever) that manages to squirt through the peel ply. What's to prevent the breather layer from impressing it's texture on the final product? Is the peel ply thick enough to leave the smooth surface that you're looking for?

Speaking as one that has never (gasp) bagged a wing..

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RE: Glassing wing? - 8/15/2006 2:53:54 AM   
daven