Message-ID: <001801c133c4$feb27780$d0b088ce@pavilion>
From: "J. N. Cameron" <toucan@The-I.net>
To: "Lancair List" <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Subject: Aileron weights; ES wing fairings
Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2001 10:36:09 -0500
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>>
    An easy mold for aileron weights is to just use a router in a piece of
1x4 to rout out a cavity the width of the aileron flange, 1/2" deep and
about 12 or 15 inches long.  Melt lead in an old cast iron skillet or pan,
then prop one edge of the mold up when you pour lead to make a weight with a
wedge-shaped profile.   The wooden mold smokes a bit when you pour the lead,
but I've used the same mold for two ES's now, and it's still in good shape.
These can be attached with screws, Hysol, e-glass, or whatever.  BTW, you'll
probably have to grind out some of the wing core to allow proper travel.

    As for wing fairings, these are probably the most miserable, sorriest
pieces in the whole kit.  Why they're still using the polyester resin
moldings I'll never know.    The resin heats up and gets gummy when you try
to cut, sand, or grind it;  the parts weigh far too much; and it really
gives you the itchies working with it.  Long sleeves, gloves, and a good
dust mask highly recommended with this stuff.

    On both my ES's, I fitted the top fairings first, trimming in several
stages until I got a reasonable fit.  The final part (thankfully!) ends up
about 1/3 the size (and weight) of the original molded piece.  On my second
ES (nearly done !?), the inboard edge of the FB wings was about 1" inboard
of where it was supposed to be.  I thought hard about trimming it back to
the 25.5" from centerline that it's supposed to be, but the inboard ribs and
reinforcements for the wing attach plates were also inboard of where they're
supposed to be, so I couldn't trim the wings without cutting into all that.
As a result, the radius needed for the wing root fairing is tighter than the
molded piece.  Bottom line is that I don't have as nice a curve blend from
wing to fuselage as I'd like, but, hey, it's a Lancair!  After a while you
don't expect anything to fit, you just sit down and figure out what you have
to do to get something you're satisfied with.

    Another trick -- on the upper fairing, the curve forward to aft doesn't
match the curve of the top of the wing.  These compound-curve pieces don't
want to bend in certain directions, so I ended up cutting a series of slits
from the top down toward the wing, maybe 4 or 5" deep and 3 or 4"  apart, so
I could bend the fairing to match the wing.  Filled the slots with flox when
I bonded the fairing on.  (Same trick on the door frame, which also doesn't
match the curve of the fuselage.)

Jim Cameron
N143ES reserved


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