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Deformed wingtips

acam37

Well Known Member
These wingtips were severely deformed by someone who shrink wrapped a set if wings in a wing rack for transport. Is there a way to restore the shape? I was thinking about using a heat gun or sitting them out in the Texas sun then filling them with something to hold the shape until they cooled off.
 

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The Texas heat may help. I'd suggest cobbling together some materials to hold the tips upright, like the hull of a boat. Some Styrofoam temporary ribs wedged inside might help to encourage a return to shape.

There will probably be cracks in the paint/gel coat. You might consider reinforcing the tips with the Wingtip Tips from Darwin on this page: https://vansairforce.net/articles.htm
 
If they are salvageable they will be stripped for painting so I’m not worried about cracked paint or gelcoat
 
Wow, unfortunate! A real good note to others to not shrink wrap their wing!

I was never satisfied with any of my efforts to extract warps out of wing tips with heat. In one case, I layed up repair panels & spliced them in the affected areas. And I was only dealing with minor warpage in those cases.

In your case, with severely warped tips, it might be worthwhile to consider replacing them totally. Maybe perfect time to update with the later W-715 tips????
 
HOLY batman

Those suckers look like they are toast. But, I'm the kind of guy that would work hard to straighten them cause I like challenges. Heat, fake ribs, time, But, they look really screwed up.
Let us know how it turns out.
Good luck Art
 
Mine weren't as bad as yours, but I went through this with a set of wingtips that had been stored one inside the other for about 10 years.

I got them looking pretty good, but it took several hours with a heat gun and some pretty heavy weights. It's a very try-and-see-what-happens approach.

Basically, I heated the area I wanted to work on and then using a combination of weights, clamps, tape, string etc, held them in the position I wanted while they cooled. One of them off in multiple directions. It was too narrow overall, but the edges were pooched out like a teenage girl making duck lips for a selfie.

For that one, I made a wing cross section shape out of pink foam to stuff inside it, then fastened about a million cleco clamps on the edges. As I heated it up, I drew the edges together with string that was laced around the clamps like a shoe lace.

They came out okay and have been drilled and clecoed onto my wings for about a year now, so hopefully I don't get any surprises when I take them back off to get them ready for final fitment.

The whole process took several hours and was pretty frustrating, but better than buying new wingtips!

Here are a couple of pix that show part of my process

IMG_3909.jpg

IMG_3914.jpg
 
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The boss actually has a set of W-715's that came off a Rocket. I may suggest that he donate them to the cause. I was hoping someone had success in getting fiberglass to go back into shape, but these may be too far gone. I'm just trying to help a customer out before giving up.
 
You might try using foam ribs to hold them in the right shape and then put a layer of glass in or on them. When it sets up hard it maybe enough to hold the shape. You could also use some 3/8 hemp rope for ribs they would hold it when cured. Use to use the rope trick for ribs when making canoes. Structurally very strong.
 
W715

The boss actually has a set of W-715's that came off a Rocket. I may suggest that he donate them to the cause. I was hoping someone had success in getting fiberglass to go back into shape, but these may be too far gone. I'm just trying to help a customer out before giving up.

I would go with the new ones. Especially if they are grey gel coat. Finish is much better.
 
The boss actually has a set of W-715's that came off a Rocket. I may suggest that he donate them to the cause. I was hoping someone had success in getting fiberglass to go back into shape, but these may be too far gone. I'm just trying to help a customer out before giving up.

Rocket- check if it was a Harmon or F-1. The Harmon has the same airfoil, the F-1 is slightly different.
 
Hull of boat idea but with water?

Not sure which tips you have or if they have any holes cut, but if you tip them up like a hull, then fill with very hot/ boiling water? Would that be enough temp and constant gentle pressure to get the shape back without damaging the glass? They might be heavy too. Just an idea, no experience with it. They would have to jigged very well, there are some risks involved…..
 
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