My Avistar decided it wanted to land in a tree yesterday. And sustained minor damage to the leading edge of the wings. Are there any websites out there, with 'how to' tips for balsa repair/construction? If they have lots n lots n lots of helpful pictures, even better. Attempts at various searches with various search words was to no evail. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
A lot depends on the construction of the wing. If it is a normal "D" type then the principal strength has to be restored. Cut away the crushed portion to the center (length wise) of the adjacent ribs. Cut away the leading edge too. Now you should have a somewhat square hole.
Secure a 1/8" square stick to the rib where you cut away the crushed balsa and even with the rib itself. This will provide a place to glue the replacement. Obtain some scrap plywood - 1/16". Cut a slot in the adjacent leading edges and the larger square balsa leading edge replacement. This can be done with a Dremel tool fairly easily. Now, glue up the new leading edge and insert with glue the 1/16" ply. Sand all this to conform to the original lines. Now, use some sheeting the same thickness of what you already have and finish filling out the remaining hole. You may have to put some shims from the inside to have something else to glue to.
Do not get carried away with Epoxy - it's heavy. Use slow acting Zap or the equivalent.
Hope this helps some.
If the damage is minor, fixing is not required.
If the spar or ribs are broken, or the balsa sheeting broken across more than 25% of its width then a repair is necessary.
If its a simple crease in the leading edge, punched-in place, or small dime size hole in the balsa sheeting, it is doing no harm, don't worry about fixing it. It will not decrease the strength of the wing enough to make a difference.
Just use clear tape to secure the covering back down and seal any small holes.
If you keep the plane and ever decide to re-cover it, or get tired of looking at the tape repair. Then proceed with a repair job.
Planes are just puzzles glued together, remove (cut away) the broken pieces and replace with new pieces in reverse order.
The Avistar is basically a sturdy trainer some damage will not effect the way it flies. If it were a flimsy aerobatic plane then a repair would definitely be required.
On 7/18/2003 1:40 PM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:
This may help you some.
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