Sender: <marv@lancaironline.net> (Marvin Kaye)
To: lml
Date: Sun, 07 Jul 2002 14:40:13 -0400
Message-ID: <redirect-1620743@logan.com>
From: "Gary Casey" <glcasey@adelphia.net>
Subject: gear leg fairings
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When I got to the gear leg fairing part of my ES I was dissatisfied with the
shape of the parts in the kit.  After briefly thinking about alternative
ways to do the job I came up with a technique that might be interesting to
others.  At the local fabric store I bought some Nylon "Spandex" (should
have seen the looks I got).  I cut out a piece about the right shape and
started taping it to the gear leg and fuselage with small pieces of duct
tape.  By adjusting the tension in the various directions I was able to get
one shape to match the inside half and the "leading edge."  I then laid a
1-BID over it.  I found that putting the metallic "glitter" side out made it
a little easier to verify that the lay-up was in contact.  Any more than
1-BID might be heavy enough to deform the rather delicate shape of the
Spandex.  The outer (armpit) side was a little more difficult, but by this
time I was practiced so it went pretty quickly.  In retrospect, it would
have been better to use at least a couple different overlapping lay-ups as
the one piece method wouldn't easily fold around the leading edge, leaving
me to do that with micro and sanding.  The resulting cured part easily
popped off the "mold" and then I trimmed the rough edges and added more BID.
I left it at 3-BID for most of it with 4-BID at the overlaps of the sections
and at the flange around the periphery.  I then permanently joined the inner
and outer halves and extended the fairing out to cover the wing root
inspection holes.  For service the plan is to unscrew the fairing from the
fuselage and slide it down the gear leg, exposing the gear attachment and
the wing root access.   The plan now is to add micro over the top and sand
to take out the inevitable imperfections.  The limitation of the technique
is that the shape has to be concave in at least one direction, giving a way
to stretch the fabric into shape.  Once in rough shape it is easy to add or
reduce tension in a spot to change the shape and the result is inherently
smooth with no bumps or wrinkles.  Don't know if this technique will result
in a part that will stand up to the more discriminating judges, but at about
30 minutes to make a mold, it sure was easy.

Gary Casey
ES project