How To guide

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Vacuum Bagging a High-Performance Wing

 

With much anticipation, open the bag and remove the tape. You'll either jump for joy or gasp in horror. The TE always warps to some degree-usually not too badly. If it looks hopeless, it probably isn't, and if it is, it's repairable. Remember that most of this gets trimmed off… Move on to the next step.

Remember what I said about denting the wing while working on it. You have to be careful as even your forearm muscle can put big dents in the wing while you hold it down. You can fix these with light spackle, but it's better not to have to at all.

Using the sanding stick, hold the wing in the cores and sand the LE and tips. Don't sand in an up/down motion or you will break the balsa off rather than sand it. When this is done, measure the TE using the tip chord (minus the LE which isn't there yet) and cut the TE to the proper size. Remembering that you'll be sanding the TE to a sharp point, decide now if it's too warped to be sanded. If so, trim the warped TE off and butt-glue a piece of balsa in it's place. Use a razor plane to rough it down to the proper shape and continue with the rest of the wing.

 
Here's where my wing is weight wise now.
   

Glue the LE in place, sand the tips flush, then add your wingtips. Here's where your magic sanding stick comes to the rescue! Holding the wing in the core beds any way you can, start roughing and shaping the LE. When this is done, do the same to the tips. Finish shaping the LE and tips now, if the tips look too boxy, hit them up with sandpaper by hand.

Start shaping the TE with the sanding stick. Pay attention to the direction of the small warps in the wing, this is where you fix them. You want to work towards having a wing that's almost razor sharp. Give the TE of the tips a drop of thin CA to keep them ding resistant and sand them smooth again.

   
Sand the top and bottom of the wing to smooth it out and remove any glue that bled through the skins during bagging. You should now have a very pretty wing!
   
Mark off the root and tip of the ailerons and place the wing in the core bed. Do this from the top. Cut out the aileron slits with a fine tooth saw. Turn the wing over and mark the aileron gap line using the slits as a guide. Draw another line 3/32" behing that one. Gently cut each line out. Make several passes on each with an Exacto blade, being aware of the raspy feeling that comes when you hit the glass on the underside of the top skin. Using an Exacto blade or small flat-head screwdriver, pick the balsa and foam out of the aileron gap. Do not flex the ailerons until you complete the next step!
   
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