Mike Gunn Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Hi all I recently bought a really nice YT International Sea Fury (72" that has had a bit of damage and intend to repair it. The fuse has a crack at the wing seating and needs a glass repair to make it rigid again. This is the first glass fuselage I have examined and I was surprised at how flexible the whole thing is as you can squeeze the fuse and it flexes just as if the whole thing were made of a plastic material. This got me wondering if there is a special requirement for materials for the repair? I was planning on using ordinary resin and wonder what type of cloth/matting would be best (type plus weight per sq/m). I have some glass tissue and chopped matting already (car body repair stuff) but have also seen lightweight glass cloth advertised on the bay? It's not a large repair but important. Any suggestions would be great Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
001 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Hello Mike, briefly, I assume that you mean Polyester Resin? If the fuselage is actually fibreglass use that, epoxy resin does not work very well. Without seeing the damage it is difficult to know how any repair will affect the strength of the item. Personally I would use a lightweight woven f/g cloth. Apply one layer, then let it harden and assess whether you need to add another layer.(or more). Make sure that the area to be repaired is very clean, remove any paint if present, degrease it with meths and make sure that the cloth is well wetted with resin but do not add too much as it is very heavy. It will also cure much faster in a warm place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
001 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 The advantage of using lightweight cloth is that the repair can extend well past the edges of the break, then if a second or third layer is needed, it can be a smaller 'patch', so that it spreads the stresses over a wider area without too much weight penalty. Edited By Chris P. Bacon on 20/03/2013 07:12:45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bennett Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I second the advice to use woven fibreglass cloth, rather than the chopped stuff you get for car repairs. But I would add that, if you need a second layer after the first one has hardened, then you need to thoroughly roughen the previous layer first. I'm sure I read that epoxy resin will stick to anything, but polyester resin has difficulty sticking to epoxy. In fact, I've just found an article here that seems to confirm that; it says that vinylester resin is cheaper and stronger than epoxy, but it doesn't bond so well, and sometimes doesn't go off properly in certain atmospheric conditions. I've been using epoxy laminating resin for some years now, for laminating and for repairs, and have had no problems with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
001 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 In addition to that, it might be a good idea to test the materials to be used on an inside surface of the fuselage where it doesn't matter, leave a tag of the fibreglass free and try to de-bond it when it is hard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Fairgrieve Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Posted by Mike Gunn on 20/03/2013 00:15:58: Hi all I recently bought a really nice YT International Sea Fury (72" that has had a bit of damage and intend to repair it. The fuse has a crack at the wing seating and needs a glass repair to make it rigid again. This is the first glass fuselage I have examined and I was surprised at how flexible the whole thing is as you can squeeze the fuse and it flexes just as if the whole thing were made of a plastic material. This got me wondering if there is a special requirement for materials for the repair? I was planning on using ordinary resin and wonder what type of cloth/matting would be best (type plus weight per sq/m). I have some glass tissue and chopped matting already (car body repair stuff) but have also seen lightweight glass cloth advertised on the bay? It's not a large repair but important. Any suggestions would be great Mike I too saw that on a certain auction site. Was tempted to go for it myself. Let us know how you get on with it. Kev Edited By Kevin Fairgrieve on 20/03/2013 08:47:30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Hi Mike, I was of the oppinion that if the fuselage was made from polyester resin, (my older YT Hurricane definitely is), then you must use a polyester based resin. I found that epoxy resins did not stick well at all. I suffered a similar crash and damage around the wing seat. I repaired it using a light cloth as other have said, and Davids Isopon resin from Halfrauds, it being polyester. If you need a really strong bond then the best stuff I found was a glue called Stabilit Express, expensive but the joint was indeed very strong. Good luck Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gunn Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 Hi all Thank you all for the responses which have given me plenty to consider. It seems unanimous that I use some woven cloth so I will order that, and as for the resin I didnt realise thaat epoxy and polyester resin were different....I assumed they all went under the general banner of glass fibre resins. Thank you Danny for your refernce to the repair you carried out on your Hurricane and for steering me towards the Isopon resin which would be easy to get. From all this then I plan to open up the crack a bit using a cutting disk in the dremel or a needle file and then to carry out the repair from the inside. Whilst repairing I intend to strengthen the wing seat with thin ply resined into place with the repair and finally fill the crack from the outside using resin (and possibly some ground glass matting) . I'll then airbrush the repair to match the film covering Hope this sounds like a plan and once again thank you all for the advice. This really is a great place to learn regards...Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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