Glider resto: turning a corner

[beaky]

Wednesday was a breakthrough day- we finally covered something.
The fuse, horizontal stab & elevator are not quite ready, so it was time to do the rudder.

First step, after a thorough cleaning, is to stick some chafing tape on anything that might wear through the fabric.





Then we glue on the fabric (basically Dacron, but made specifically for this purpose), one piece each side, leaving it loose but not too loose.





Next step is using an ordinary (but calibrated) iron to carefully shrink the fabric. Amazing how well it shapes up! You can see here that we only glued it around the edges, and of course where the pieces overlap on the leading and trailing edges.





After putting reinforcing tape on the ribs and installing rivets in the existing holes (keeps the fabric from bowing out in the slipstream), it's time to put on the finish tape. That pink goop (Poly-Brush) does help it stick on until the UV coating and finish paint go on, but it's not really glue- it's more to seal the fabric and protect it (it's basically liquid vinyl with an anti-fungal solution mixed in).

[Rifleman]

Not much difference between this and a model.......back to the tried and true, old style way of covering - no Monokote here !

Thanks for the update Sean.....it's all very interesting..... 8-)

[pepper_airborne]

interesting indeed! Thanks for showing us how this is done!