Wing Leading Edge Refinishing

[Jan Eldem[_2_]]

HI all,

My Pegasus was refinished in Poland a few years ago in two pack poly
paint, seemed to do a good job I thought. but after a while the very tip
of the leading edge has started to get vertical cracks showing where the
wing flexes (peg's have very bendy wings)

The rest of the wing is fine, so after a bit of a look with some wet and
dry it seems that they have just flatted the gelcoat back on the leading
edge and sprayed over it !! I guess they did that as a easy way to keep
the wings profile correct???

everywhere else had the gel removed apart from the L/E

My problem is,

I want to refinish the leading edge, how do I go about keeping the profile
correct and am I best to go back to glass on the affected areas

any ideas and suggestions would be great !!

Regards and thanks for the help

Jan

[Udo]

Rather then sanding the leading edge of the wing all at once,
sand 2 ft sections and leaving a couple of inches of leading edge
untouched. Build up the sanded section using the remaining old leading
edge as a guide. Remove the 2 inches that were left behind and use
the new build up section again as guide.
Udo

On Jun 16, 4:28*am, Jan Eldem > wrote:
> HI all,
>
> My Pegasus was refinished in Poland a few years ago in two pack poly
> paint, seemed to do a good job I thought. *but after a while the very tip
> of the leading edge has started to get vertical cracks showing where the
> wing flexes (peg's have very bendy wings)
>
> The rest of the wing is fine, so after a bit of a look with some wet and
> dry it seems that they have just flatted the gelcoat back on the leading
> edge and sprayed over it !! *I guess they did that as a easy way to keep
> the wings profile correct???
>
> everywhere else had the gel removed apart from the L/E
>
> My problem is,
>
> I want to refinish the leading edge, how do I go about keeping the profile
> correct and am I best to go back to glass on the affected areas
>
> any ideas and suggestions would be great !!
>
> Regards and thanks for the help
>
> Jan

[Michael Huber]

> I want to refinish the leading edge, how do I go about keeping the profile
> correct and am I best to go back to glass on the affected areas

If you can get the original airfoil coordinates it is quite simple to make
templates on a cnc router. Many modelers have suitable cnc routers already
and might be cheaper than a professional shop.

Michael

[Robert Gaines[_2_]]

At 13:33 16 June 2008, Michael Huber wrote:
>> I want to refinish the leading edge, how do I go about keeping the
>profile
>> correct and am I best to go back to glass on the affected areas
>
>If you can get the original airfoil coordinates it is quite simple to
make
>
>templates on a cnc router. Many modelers have suitable cnc routers
already
>
>and might be cheaper than a professional shop.
>
>Michael
>
>The original airfoil design and the resulting profile when produced at
the factory probably are not the same. They may be reasonably close but I
have seen large differences between left and righ wing airfoils on
relatively new sailplanes. And these sailplanes were among the winning
designs.
Go figure.
Bob
>

[Michael Huber]

"Robert Gaines" > wrote:

>The original airfoil design and the resulting profile when produced at
> the factory probably are not the same. They may be reasonably close but I
> have seen large differences between left and righ wing airfoils on
> relatively new sailplanes.

Sounds to me like one more reason to start with templates of the original
airfoil. Or would you prefer to rely on the profile not replicated exactly
by the manufacturer and later modified by a refinish shop that produced less
than perfect results?

As the original poster is talking about refinishing the leading edge only
differences shouldn´t be that large.

Michael