Wing Skins

I was going to just continue the 'Wings" section but then I realised that there was so many different ways of doing this and for such a big deal was made of the whole thing in all the builders letters that I thought I would show how I did it..

Firstly I must admit that I too was a little concerned of how to do this since I'd seen so much written about it however I can now say to any current or prospective builder... DON'T PANIC !! its a hell of a lot easier that people make out.. the following is how I did it and I must say that with the exception of needing a little patience, it is one of the easier parts.

This is my boiling tank in action on a wing skin.... Try making one of these suckers without any leaks !!

I'm not sure I would bother if I did it again but it was fun anyhow. I don't think I managed to get the maximum benefit from it that other builders have.

The 2.5mm skins take about 3 hours and the 1.5 about 20 min.

I must confess that this system didn't really work for me. I ended up using a clothes iron and a wet cloth to bend the skin around the former. That worked great for me and was relatively quick. About 1 hour for the thickest skins.

Steam.. bend a bit.. steam .. bend a bit and so on... easy!

Bending the skins around a former is fun... I was very worried about this part since there is so much written about it.

I found it very easy and all that was required was a bit of patience since it takes about 1 hour to steam and bend the 2.5mm around a 30mm former. After letting dry for 3-4 days the skin fits perfectly and I didn't need any fancy clamping structures for the rear skins, mainly just staples.

PROOF !! here is the second skin (First is the bottom) before I glued it on... no clamps (except the two at the top stopping it hitting the floor) .. it just snaps around the leading edge..... easy !!

Another view before gluing... I scarf later around the leading edge..

Excuse the mess - I'll clean up when I've finished skinning !!

Wing, Wing..... Hello ??

With both wings complete I just couldn't resist taking it out to see what it looked like before turning it upside down to finish the bottom.

Now on to filling and sanding the damn thing !!