I have not posted much this past year but I have been making progress on my rebuild project. Getting the wing ready for covering was much more difficult than the fuselage.. it was as if the factor used super glue to attach the wing fabric. Using a heat gun to remover the fabric became problematic... a small section of fabric would often flash into flames as it was removed. I have completed a number of items for the 4 this winter.

After seeing and flying Eugenio's pristine RF-4d last June, I wanted to take advantage of his experience(s) and recommendations. Eugenio's reminder to keep things simple was lost to me for a while and I went down the wrong paths only to be frustrated and disappointed. As an example, for some reason I had it in my mind to make fiberglass wing tips with built in LED position lights, etc. I learned a lot about mold and actually made the tips. But it was the wrong path. Often my first "solution" was not the best solution, and even though I was invested in a solution didn't mean that it could not be dropped in favor of something better.

Below is a link to a very short album showing my wing and fiberglass covering to the box section. Everyone seems to have different ideas how things should be done and what materials to use, but for me, my plan to follow Eugenio's suggestions regarding fiberglass. This became especially important since once I had the wing open it was cleat that a number of parts had to be replaced due to water damage. Living in Oregon often means wet/damp conditions for flying.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Bomar1&target=ALBUM&id=5610020697684587153&locked=true&authkey=Gv1sRgCLCd3eC0rYzKtQE&feat=email

Collin has my engine. I asked Collin to plan the rebuild as if he were building the engine for his own RF-4d. Frankly, it would be foolish for me to NOT take advantage of his engine knowledge and skills. So sometime in the next few months I expect you will see pictures of my engine being rebuilt and perhaps some of the rational for doing things a particular way. I expect to learn from the process... just as I have been leaning from the other parts of the rebuild.

Bob Brock

Please repost that link, it does not seem to open a valid album.

Documenting your first attempts and the eventual better solution is very valuable to all of us
so when we consider our own options we can factor others experiences in as well and
get the best solution on the first try.

--------------------

I will have lots more coming soon, esp. regarding the fabric job, paint and primer(s), which will be the Superflite system. I have all the PolyFiber system materials and have used it on fabric aircraft like my Cessna 140 wings with very good results; however, since I will have both fiberglass and fabric I wanted to make sure everything worked together. In fact today I talked with the Superflite factory technical person (they are really helpful) and asked about the primers they recommend for fiberglass and metal... according the their expert, they recommend the fabric primer over "raw" fiberglass, i.e., no gel coat, so I can use the same primer for the entire aircraft. The PolyFiber primer, Poly Spray is the aluminum particle primer with UV protection that goes over the PolyBrush... anyway, it does not work very well on fiberglass and is much softer than the Superflite primer/paint. Interestingly, and I think Eugenio knows all the history, PPG makes the paint, primer, etc., for automotive use (esp. with flex agents for plastic auto parts like bumpers) and the Superflite often just puts their labels over the PPG products. A few of the products like the Superflite fabric cement ($ 21.00/qt) is aircraft specific. For some reason, perhaps competition, Aircraft Spruce does not carry Superflite Aircraft covering systems, but Wicks Aircraft Supply does. I am very lucky that I have an excellent shop on my field with lots of paint/fabric experience. Hopefully I can have them shoot the primer and paint... otherwise I will have to trailer the wing and fuselage off site to paint it. And as we all know, the wing is a handful.

Stay tuned... Bob

--------------------

--------------------

Admiring your shiny glossy wing I thought for a fleeting moment, Plug for a fiberglass mold as done by the sailplane manufacturers.

It will be interesting to see what it weighs as it might even turn out as light as the my PolyFiber & Ranthane finish.

I count about 11 or 12 coats of paint with my PolyFiber/Ranthane method by the time its done.

Damm, I just realized I forgot to weight it before I started painting.

--------------------

May the 4's be with you/ Jörgen

This is my first fabric job but it went well. The first attempt at the aileron was ugly.. tried to glue to the trailing edge (bottom) and wrap the fabric around the front and back to the trailing edge... talked with a few experts and the Superflite people a number of times... even put them on speed dial. Additionally, Superflite made a good manual and DVD which we watched several times... they did not use a wood and fabric aircraft for their demo but still has many great ideas. Taking the "glued on fabric" off the aileron was instructive... even when just MEK was used on top of the fabric it melted the several coats of cement that was on the wood and really held the fabric tight... it took a huge amount of force to get the fabric off. If I were to do it over, I would again use one piece of fabric per wing. I think we used about 16 yards of Dacron and lots of that was cut off. I purchased 35 yards... should be enough for Collin to do his wing, etc.

The neatest thing I built was a Rocking Wing jig... I just make it today out of scrap wood to meet the painters request that he be able to flip the wing over and over while painting... light coat both sides, etc. Anyway, it really works far better than I imagined. Here are the pictures.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Bomar1&target=ALBUM&id=5642338503418146497&authkey=Gv1sRgCMm4ocuPy77tugE&feat=email

You can see the wing really is it is in the paint shop. Because of the delays with the paint shop, I am not going to be around when it gets painted next week as I am taking my family camping... have to load up tonight. It may be better that way... kind of like not wanting to know how sausage or laws are made. Actually I have friends and flying students who are going to help wet sand the primer coat... the painter is a master and will supervise. They will take pictures of the painting. He likes the fact that I trust him.

One other note... and this is from the painter. I was not going to have a leading edge color on the wing.. just white wings and red wing tips like it came out of the factory.... he said that any lines or imperfections where the fabric transitions to the fiberglass will be almost hidden with a leading edge in red... according to him, the eye follows the line between the white and red and the larger sections of white are nor really noticed. I don't know if it will work that way, but it sounds logical and he seems to know what he is doing.

I can see a few advantages of doing the wing totally in fabric but I don't think you could use one piece to wrap the wing and that would mean gluing to the trailing edge. In many ways the fabric surface is much easier to finish than the fiberglass which seemed to take forever to finish sand. I will have more ideas as the project progresses.

Thanks again for all the advice and help... it is really unthinkable for me to consider doing this project without the knowledge of those who have done it before. Eugenio... a million thanks!

Bob Brock

May the 4's be with you/ Jörgen

Eugenio

--------------------

May the 4's be with you/ Jörgen