stunthanger.com
Building Tips and technical articles. => Building techniques => Topic started by: Dennis Toth on August 22, 2023, 11:33:22 AM
-
With today's wood being heavier I am looking to be able to use MonoKote/Ultacoat on a simple non-flapped wing. In the past most of the wings that I have used the M/U on were ok but not as twist resistant as if it were done in silkspan/dope. I remember the old TopFlite Tutor wing was design for a film covering and basically had the last rib bay planked. On OTS ships adding the planking could be a problem. adding it below the rib line might work. Any other ideas to add stiffness?
Best, DennisT
-
With today's wood being heavier I am looking to be able to use MonoKote/Ultacoat on a simple non-flapped wing. In the past most of the wings that I have used the M/U on were ok but not as twist resistant as if it were done in silkspan/dope. I remember the old TopFlite Tutor wing was design for a film covering and basically had the last rib bay planked. On OTS ships adding the planking could be a problem. adding it below the rib line might work. Any other ideas to add stiffness?
Best, DennisT
90% of my models from Ringmasters to full fuse stunters have all been built to plan spec and ultracote on the wings with no problems. My Genesis has ultracote wings.
-
Unless you are building it from the most soft and punkish wood you can find, I wouldn't worry. Add a gusset here or there at the corners, maybe. I have built wings of all sizes and covered them with Monokote with no warping or twisting. Sailplane wings from the 70's and 80's are a prime example. With out iron on covering, they are veritable "Flexible Flyers!" and have no torsional resistance at all. But cover them with Monokote and they then become a stressed skin designs. As far as I'm concerned, Monokote was always the best for this id applied correctly and shrunk properly. I remember one flying buddy that stripped the Monokote off the wing of an SD-100 standard class model and replaced it with some sort of woven cloth, a Coverite product I think, that advertised its strengths , thinking he could get a turbulation effect from the weave across the airfoil. On the first launch, he about fluttered the wing tip panels off! He took a pocket knife to it right there and next time I saw him the airplane was back in it's familiar colors! And no more issues with flutter. You can add a gusset here or some diagonals there if it will help you sleep at night, but if it's a known C/L design or anything similar, it shouldn't be a problem as long as you can get a good anchor all the way around a wing panel , and shrink the covering first before attaching it to any ribs or spars.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
-
Place half ribs at an angle, in addition to closes to the stringers. You will be amazed at how torsional resistance increases.
-
Similar to Douglas. This wing was monokoted.
Ken