ETLB Squawk Forums — Archive

I posted before about the project plane I picked up. Wings are MiniMAX and even have MiniMAX RS part numbers on them. The fuselage is a slightly modified Legal Eagle, (which I almost hate to admit) but it was a good buy and came with a 2A042 Military Surplus engine and prop. Plan A was a HiMAX, but $$ savings was too tempting.

The wings and one aileron were messed up, with a few broken members and pulled-apart wing trailing edges. Someone apparently didn't know when to say "tight enough" on the fabric.

I've been piddling in the evening on the 1st aileron that had a few broken members. Got it stripped of fabric, glue residue removed, wood repairs done and sanded everything to re-finish. The varnish was on really thick and the wood hadn't been sanded before varnishing, but after sanding the "rough sawn" texture off of the ribs, etc. I'm pleased to say I managed to lighten it up by 4+ ounces in the process. Yeah, not earth shattering weight savings but the ounces will all add up in the end. I'm quite the stickler about that.

So, aileron #1 is safely stored for now and aileron #2 is the next victim. Fabric is already stripped and glue residue removed. It will now get a thorough inspection (haven't seen any damaged pieces yet) as it gets sanded in prep for a light re-varnish. If I can get 3 ounces off of it in the process they'll weigh exactly the same.

BTW....when I varnished the 1st aileron leading edge I did it with a rag instead of a brush. Dipped the rag (old, non linty towel) in varnish and wiped it on. I kept wiping the varnish toward the part not yet varnished to remove the excess and the result is smoother than a .....well I'll let you finish that.

I hope to post more as I make progress. Might try to add a photo here and there as well.

Lynn

I had a similar problem on the trailing edges of my Hi max when I first got it. Not a big deal, as it wasn't too bad. The fabric was just lifting, so I added some gussets to help hold it in place and clamped it back down. worked fine for me. post a picture and lets see just how bad it is.

Thanks for posting, PUFF. We're leaving tomorrow for a few days and don't think I'll have time to get a photo today. The trailing edges (3 of 4 for sure) are pulled away from the ribs completely. Also, the way the wings were stored the trailing edges are really warped so I'm 99% certain this is going to be more major than gluing them back in place with the extra gussets suggested. Sometime my patience is pretty good, sometime not so much. I think resurrecting these wings is going to take a lot of time and patience. They'll get a thorough going over when I get the fabric off to see just what I'm up against.

Lynn