Homemade Wheelpants
05-04-2005, 08:22 AM
#1
Homemade Wheelpants
Does anyone ever make their own Wheelpants? Im talking about the full pants with the fairing that goes up to the bottom of the wing. This style can be found on Gee Bee's and on the Ryan. I'm making a set out of balsa and light plywood and i was wondering if anyone else has ever done this? Henry Haffke uses this type in many of his plans.
Thanks, Barzini
Thanks, Barzini
05-04-2005, 02:22 PM
#2
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RE: Homemade Wheelpants
What material you plan on using?
Either way you'll need to shape a plug, you can do it out of hard balsa. This is fine for a one or two off prodject. Also it is alot eiser to make one fully symetrical object then a right and left plug. Anyway shape the balsa to the shape you want. At this point you can try to use the material to cover half the shape at a time or a better way is to cut the shape in half
You can use fiberglass or plasic.
For plasic use a 2 liter bottle and use about 150% of the material required to cover one half the object. Heat the plasic with a heat gun to shape it around the object until it contours to it. Repeat for all four halfs. Cafefully cut out each half. sand the joining sides flat. Use fiberglass cloth and epoxy to glue the halves together.
For fiberglass you can use a balsa plug but syrafoam may work better. You can go about this a couple ways. You can do the balsa plug and do one half at a time then glue them together bondo sand and paint it. you can get a styrafoam plug. You'll need several because you going to destroy teh syrofoam plug when the fiberglass hardener cures but you can do it in one peice. Basically make like four full styrofoam plugs using a hot wire cutter then sand the sytrofoam to shape. Wrap the entire plug in fiberglass. after it cures drip some hydrochloric acid in it to remove the styrofoam plug
Either way you'll need to shape a plug, you can do it out of hard balsa. This is fine for a one or two off prodject. Also it is alot eiser to make one fully symetrical object then a right and left plug. Anyway shape the balsa to the shape you want. At this point you can try to use the material to cover half the shape at a time or a better way is to cut the shape in half
You can use fiberglass or plasic.
For plasic use a 2 liter bottle and use about 150% of the material required to cover one half the object. Heat the plasic with a heat gun to shape it around the object until it contours to it. Repeat for all four halfs. Cafefully cut out each half. sand the joining sides flat. Use fiberglass cloth and epoxy to glue the halves together.
For fiberglass you can use a balsa plug but syrafoam may work better. You can go about this a couple ways. You can do the balsa plug and do one half at a time then glue them together bondo sand and paint it. you can get a styrafoam plug. You'll need several because you going to destroy teh syrofoam plug when the fiberglass hardener cures but you can do it in one peice. Basically make like four full styrofoam plugs using a hot wire cutter then sand the sytrofoam to shape. Wrap the entire plug in fiberglass. after it cures drip some hydrochloric acid in it to remove the styrofoam plug
