Pat Teakle Pik 20 Refurbishment

[Paul Adams]

I have been given a PIK 20 Pat Treakle glider in need of repair / refurbishment. One wing was snapped about a foot from the tip and the paint finish had crazed over both wings, the fuselage tail was hanging off as the boom to tail junction had 75% broken off and the tail plane was badly damaged.

So far I have stripped the wings back and found that the resin holding the fibreglass cloth had also crazed, so have stripped the wings right back to the veneer. Have joined the broken off portion back onto the broken wing and will shortly be in a position to recover.

The fuselage is made of fibreglass, so have aligned and epoxied the tail back into position and plan to reinforce the area with fibreglass cloth from the inside. Due to the repair and general condition of the fuselage, it will need filling to get back to the sleek lines of the original model

Tail plane. I plan to remake out of foam and veneer etc.

And now comes the part where I need a bit of advise:-

Fibre glassing the Wings: The instructions state to cover the wings in fibreglass cloth using 2 cotes of Tufcoat - Is this still the best method or would Z-Epoxy, Poly C, Ronseal .... be a better solution.

Spraying / Covering : I need a finish that can be applied to the Fibreglass Fuselage, The wings which will be covered in ? (answer to above question), tail plane (veneer / balsa) and all the control surfaces (balsa sheet he majority of which I believe were painted in Humbrol Enamel).

The instruction video (had to get the old video player out the attic to view it) says to paint the wings, tail plane and control surfaces in Humbrol Enamel. Is this still the best method, or are there any products on the market which would be better, and if so are they compatible with the Fibre glass / Wing covering method, Veneer / Balsa and Humbrol Enamel finishes?

Regards Paul