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Adhearing fiberglass tips?

claycookiemonster

Well Known Member
I've seen a video of someone who plans to use Pro Seal to "glue" fiberglass HS tips in place. Perhaps in conjunction with rivets, or maybe as the sole retainer. Funny how we HATE proseal but keep finding new ways to use it! Anyway, for tips where you don't anticipate needing to remove them, what about glue/proseal/epoxy ing them in place?
 
G-flex

I epoxied all but the bottom rudder cap with G-Flex and clekos till cured then set the pulled rivets. G-Flex is a very strong bond. I used a foam plug with glass to fill the open area on VS and HS tips.
Small tip for the HS & VS...
Layup a 12x12 four layers thick on a flat surface with peel ply. Use it to cut the covers to close up the open tips. Cut it so it slips inside, not outside. Flox it into place while clekoed then remove the tip and finish after curing. That way, it holds the tip shape and if you sand a bit too far, there's plenty of material to keep from breaking through.
 
What Larry said. G-flex, Hysol, any good structural adhesive. Proseal is actually kinda weak in comparison. Roughen the inside of the aluminum skin and remove the gel coat from the tip flange.

These bonded with Hysol, riveted wet with 3/32 CS pop rivets, seam filled with micro after cure, no glass fabric. Still lookin' good at 15 years.
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Dan's advice

Dan's method is great. Rivet wet for sure!! The only thing I did different is I did glass the seam between the metal and fiberglass. A little extra work but turned out okay:D
 
Seam

That's funny.
I taped off the seam at the edge of the aluminum and painted the tips. Aluminum will be vinyl. If I got the dimensions right, the vinyl should butt right up to the paint edge.
 
Howdy everyone. The video in question might be mine that I posted on my channel a few days back. I am currently working on installing the various tips on the empennage parts. In a soon to be released video, you will see the rudder top and bottom fiberglass tips installed. I used fuel tank sealant along with the CS4-4 rivets. (Anything beyond the CS4-4 rivets is not necessary.) I have fuel tank sealant on hand and I do not mind using it; it is quite user friendly once you nail down an appropriate process.

The tail is a place you do not want to add weight, so if using anything in addition to the CS4s; do so sparingly.

Vans dictates specific areas that need to be closed on the empennage parts. I will also seal off other exposed areas as others have done. (I plan to use foam/epoxy, etc.)
 
For those of you guys who are doing all this bonding and blending; obviously they look great, but what happens in the event of hangar rash etc?

I'm not being a naysayer, I'm genuinely interest in knowing if somebody has ever had to R&R one of these, and was it worth the trouble?

Maybe its a non-event to just repair in place since it's all fiberglass?

It's a timely question for me as I'm starting to look to the future and thinking about these options. Thanks for starting the thread
 
For those of you guys who are doing all this bonding and blending; obviously they look great, but what happens in the event of hangar rash etc?

You mean like this?
IMG_8732_heic-M.jpg

RV-9A (not mine), top of VS (got hit by a hangar door somehow).

Thankfully, these are all prepunched and it was pretty easy to find the underlying pull rivets using measurements from my RV-9A.
IMG_8733_heic-M.jpg


After some spray paint (close match, but not perfect) we left the rivets exposed.
IMG_8737_heic-M.jpg


Personally, I wouldn't go through the pain to bond these in place or to fair them over with fiberglass and epoxy. They look just fine with the pull rivets in place.
 
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