Fiberglassing a warbird
01-07-2016, 10:38 AM
#26
Different strokes I guess,,, when I built quickies way back when, I think I used 2oz cloth in the center section saddle area only, glassing the entire wing would just be unnecessary weight. Your overlapping method basically has 1.5oz cloth at the center,, of course that would add noticeable strength.
I hear ya, I did the same thing when I raced Q500 back in the day. Building one like that now and running at the speeds they do would mean certain failure. These days I run in a warbird racing event that will be a NATs event starting this year. It's a 515 sq in WW2 fighter powered with a YS 115. As you can imagine they are very fast but when you add up the weight of that engine, retracts, 16 oz of fuel and the rest of the equipment you could and some do end up with an 8 lb airplane. 8 lbs with 515 sq in wing is not an easy airplane to fly so when designing mine I obviously wanted to get it lighter but of course it had to be strong enough to survive 30 G turns. Being an aerospace composites specialist for a living really helped that endeavor. I won't go into all the details but suffice to say that the strength of the model is a combination of things. Take any one thing away including the 3/4 oz glass on the wings and tail feathers and failure can happen. The dry weight of the airplane is typically at 6.25 lbs.
