- Joined
- Sep 6, 2007
- Messages
- 3,290
- Reaction score
- 2,254
i found this on the net;
http://www.lepore.ca/gips/fabric.html
"I always had good luck by starting with the wing upside down, and two pieces length wise to the center of the center section, , and a seam chordwise in the middle, you can also overlap each piece to the end of the ply cover each side, to avoid a tape seam in the middle, as then the tape lines up with the rib either end of the ply cover.
Where the wing transitions from taper to straight at the leading edge, try to keep the fabric as one piece, it requires careful cutting and fitting at this point, as otherwise this area tends to work, and crack (as you well know!) if you can carefully shrink a tape in one piece over this joint it also helps to avoid any future cracking.
Use a biased tape for the center section bow, it makes for an easy clean tape, and also use biased tape for the tip ribs, as again it pulls over nicely with no cutting, (notching) required.
As you say, 2 inch overlap on the leading edge is good, and try to roll the seam around, although in the past I can remember biasing the seam to the top of the leading edge as it is less noticable than below, and same the lower wings but opposite, bias the seam to the bottom surface.
Inspection, as you said rings under idlers, and bellcranks, and not a bad idea to allow future access to tighten drag/anti drag wires on occasion, although I think by now Gips is about as stable as it can be!
Plan on using the flush covers, they hold on much better."
and this from Kimbal;
KKimball came back with: Shrink the tape at the sweep. Put it in place and shrink the excess that is at the edges where the sweep starts. Easy to do. You can practice with a short piece of 4" held in place with masking tape to get it right before you do the long one from tip to tip.
Order of tapes:
1. Skew tapes (diag, braces, ail butt rib double, etc)
2. front spar tape
3. rear spar tape, non ail bay area
4. ribs in aileron bay
5. ail bay trail edge tape (over rear spar)
6. long ribs inboard of aileron
7. leading edge tape
8. tip rib (because of your tip shape)
9. trailing edge tape and CS bow tape
10. inspection rings, patches, fitting patches, etc.
Dennis in Chicago
http://www.lepore.ca/gips/fabric.html
"I always had good luck by starting with the wing upside down, and two pieces length wise to the center of the center section, , and a seam chordwise in the middle, you can also overlap each piece to the end of the ply cover each side, to avoid a tape seam in the middle, as then the tape lines up with the rib either end of the ply cover.
Where the wing transitions from taper to straight at the leading edge, try to keep the fabric as one piece, it requires careful cutting and fitting at this point, as otherwise this area tends to work, and crack (as you well know!) if you can carefully shrink a tape in one piece over this joint it also helps to avoid any future cracking.
Use a biased tape for the center section bow, it makes for an easy clean tape, and also use biased tape for the tip ribs, as again it pulls over nicely with no cutting, (notching) required.
As you say, 2 inch overlap on the leading edge is good, and try to roll the seam around, although in the past I can remember biasing the seam to the top of the leading edge as it is less noticable than below, and same the lower wings but opposite, bias the seam to the bottom surface.
Inspection, as you said rings under idlers, and bellcranks, and not a bad idea to allow future access to tighten drag/anti drag wires on occasion, although I think by now Gips is about as stable as it can be!
Plan on using the flush covers, they hold on much better."
and this from Kimbal;
KKimball came back with: Shrink the tape at the sweep. Put it in place and shrink the excess that is at the edges where the sweep starts. Easy to do. You can practice with a short piece of 4" held in place with masking tape to get it right before you do the long one from tip to tip.
Order of tapes:
1. Skew tapes (diag, braces, ail butt rib double, etc)
2. front spar tape
3. rear spar tape, non ail bay area
4. ribs in aileron bay
5. ail bay trail edge tape (over rear spar)
6. long ribs inboard of aileron
7. leading edge tape
8. tip rib (because of your tip shape)
9. trailing edge tape and CS bow tape
10. inspection rings, patches, fitting patches, etc.
Dennis in Chicago
