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Thread: wing covering

  1. #1

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    Default wing covering

    I'm recovering wings on a KFIII wing the large wing tanks. The orginal covering was glued directly to the wing tanks themselves and a KFIV in the area is the same. The KFIII build manual mentions covering the tanks with 1/8 ply. Is either way acceptable ? Also any thoughts on using staples as opposed to rib stiching ?

    thanks

  2. #2
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
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    Default Re: wing covering

    Consider this as an opinion. I don't think I would use the plywood, just to save the weight.

    When I first built in 1993, I saw a Model ?? that had the fabric partially glued to the wing tanks - It is almost impossible to get it totally glued unless that is a focused goal. Usually after shrinking there will be some areas where the fabric is touching the tank and after the brush coat of Polybrush, that part is stuck to the tank. I think this airplane was finished in Polytone and the edges of the stuck vs unstuck part of the tank was very visible and gave a marble like finish.

    I wanted to avoid that and took great pains to prevent the fabric from sticking. It looked fine and from inflight observations f rom friends, there was no ballooning over the unglued tank. However over the years there has been several discussions of ballooning over the tank and this time I opted to let the fabric fall where it fell and accept the look. After the Aerothane, the look is perfectly fine. Glad I did it this way.

    Stapling? I rib stitched - took a day per wing. I like the traditional look, but frankly, I doubt staples would be a problem if you used them over ribstitch tape. I think I might put a dolop of hysol on the tape where each staple will be inserted and wipe off the excess to help secure them from working out. Again, this is simply an opinion, not necessarily a recommendation.

    Lowell

  3. #3
    Senior Member Dorsal's Avatar
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    Default Re: wing covering

    I put a coat or two of poly brush on the tanks before covering, when I then applied heat I got uniform adhesion, looks good so far. I also did stitching, once I got going it did not take very long, couple hours / wing.
    Dorsal ~~^~~
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  4. #4
    Senior Member dholly's Avatar
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    Default Re: wing covering

    Re: staples... I'll probably staple fabric to ribs on my current project. I believe the Avid Magnum (almost identical under cambered rib profile and much higher Gross) used rib staples vs. lacing and I've never heard of any fabric separation issues with them. A couple of buddies used staples on their Avid Flyers and, again, no regrets yet. They used an Arrow Heavy Duty T50 Hand Stapler/Tacker and Arrow 5/16" or 3/8" Monel (Stainless) divergent staples. These staples will not stain/rust, and have angles on the legs cut in opposite directions so when they go through the 1/8" capstrip they twist in opposite directions. The fabric glue and staple twist will bond/lock the fabric to the capstrip effectively. When covered with trim tape and painted, they even look like traditional lace stitches. The only difference I can think of is Avid used 1"wide capstrips vs. 3/4" wide for your KF III rib.
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  5. #5
    Senior Member War Eagle's Avatar
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    Default Re: wing covering

    We built 14 Kitfoxes in our EAA 103 builders group and we used rivets in place of rib stiching on each of the planes. We made a template to layout on the ribs so the drill holes matched on each rib (top and bottom of the wing). We drilled all the holes before we covered the wings and then after the wings were covered we applied poly brush then placed ribstich tape on each rib then we used a hot solder iron (with pointed tip) to open the predrilled hole on all the ribs so we could insert and set the rivets. This operation was very fast. We then covered the rib with dacron tape to finish the wing and then we were ready for final polybrush, spray etc..

    This process has worked really great and there has been no ballooning and no regrets on anyone of the 13 planes. I am including a couple of pictures of the in process wings so you can get a feel for what I am describing.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  6. #6
    Super Moderator Av8r3400's Avatar
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    Default Re: wing covering

    Can you discuss the rivets more?

    What kind are they, did you use a washer or some such backing on the inside of the cap strip for the rivet to grab onto?

    I want to mechanically attach the fabric on my 1200 project, but I am still undecided on how...
    Last edited by Av8r3400; 08-04-2010 at 03:09 PM.
    Av8r3400
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  7. #7
    Dave Holl's Avatar
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    Default Re: wing covering

    Hi
    I have just covered my MK7 wing and have rib stitched including the rib under the tank. It took me about 5 hours to do one wing and was quite easy once I had mastered the knots (Had the sport air video, which was very good) Had rib stiched about 25 years ago on a jodel aircraft and they are as good as new allthough I used a different knot and the line between each stitch was external to the wing and not internal as on the kitfox.
    Have not had any experience of staples but the poltfibre manual recommends rib stitching which was good enough for me!!
    I also covered the fuel tank with pollybrush before covering and the finish after covering is good, again as recommended in the polyfibre book.
    Again once you have mastered the knots rib stitching is quite fast and I would think faster than all the prep required for rivits.
    Dave
    Dave Holl
    Building Kitfox MK7
    Rotax 912ULS

  8. #8
    Super Moderator Mark's Avatar
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    Default Re: wing covering

    Rib lace, rib lace, rib lace...
    Mark & Renee Smith
    Boise, ID
    "Build It ..."

  9. #9
    Agfoxflyer's Avatar
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    Default Re: wing covering

    I used the same method as Dorsal, pre-coated the ribs and tanks with two coats of poly brush and used heat after laying fabric. Worked great. No seperation. Also after rib stiching one rib, it was automatic pilot the rest of the way. EASEY.
    David E.
    Woodstock, Georgia
    N97DE S5 TD Flying

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  10. #10

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    Default Re: wing covering

    thanks for the info everyone. Looks like rib stiching for me. BTW I'm using the Steward System and they suggest the "Beechcraft Staggerwing" knot for rib stiching. I've been experimenting with both it and the seine knot and to me it is much simpler and quicker and hey if it's good enough for a Staggerwing, it's good enough for me. Might be worth a look for guys thinking about rib stiching. A discription and drawings can be found in the Steward manual PFD file on their web site.

    EG

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