August 6 - August 28, 2002

Covering the Control Surfaces

 

Here's the covering area in the hangar.

 

All rough edges have to be covered with anti-chafe tape.

 

After cutting the cloth to fit, I've painted the leading edge of the flap with Poly-Tak and allowed it to dry.

 

Poly-Tak dries so fast - especially in this heat - that it's nearly impossible to get the cloth on straight while working with the wet glue. By letting the Polytak dry, I then had plenty of time to position the cloth and clamp it in place. I then wet the cloth with MEK, which melted the Polytak underneath and glued the fabric in place.

 

Notches have to be cut so the cloth can wrap around the tubing.

 

Here's the end glued into place.

 

Corners on the tubing can be tricky. Using an iron at 250 degrees, you can heat-form the cloth. Here I'm gluing down the corner. Poly-Tak is painted on the tubing for about 12 inches, and the cloth is pressed into it. You can see the glue soaking into the cloth.

 

One side glued on.

 

You're bound to have some wrinkles in the cloth, especially around corners.

 

A little work with an iron shrinks out the wrinkles and smooths the surface, since Poly-Tak melts with heat. This corner isn't perfect - there are still a few wrinkles - but they're inside where they won't be seen.

 

 

The second side is glued, but not yet shrunk.

 

Here's the finished flap, shrunk and smoothed.

 

Here are all ten control surfaces, ready for their first coat of Poly-Brush.

 

Everything "in the pink" after their brushed coat of Polybrush, and all the edge taping is done.

 

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