Whats this "red stuff"

[DaveJ]

The Boeing 787 is first of its type where the whole aircraft is composite. That means wings, fuselage, stabilators (vertical and horizontal) everything.

Airbus and Boeing have been making hybrid composite wings for awhile now, the skin has been composite, but the structure has been metal.

Now i'm not sure what SamSam saw, i'm militry aricraft so haven't realy seen the commerical practises. But they do put a flim of some material over the leading edges to stop damage to it from cutting through the air, dirt and dust act like sand paper to the leading edges, and if they aren't protected they will wear down to failure. I've seen this protective flim, when it gets a small hole in it, it will fill up as the air is forced into it, inflating it like a ballon. When you land, no more induced air, so it goes back down.

Have alook on youtube for the 787 wing box testing.

[SamSam]

It was on the starboard main wing just a few inches in front of the flaps that go up and down to steer the plane. On the aft part of the main wing.

[Jimbo1490]

Originally Posted by apex1

Airbus is doing almost the complete wing in "plastic" on late models.

Which model would that be? I work on 320 and 330's frequently and the wings are definitely metal. Some parts of the wings may be composite, but the basic structure (skins and spars) are riveted aluminum.

Jimbo

[Jimbo1490]

Originally Posted by SamSam

It was on the starboard main wing just a few inches in front of the flaps that go up and down to steer the plane. On the aft part of the main wing.

Sounds like the clear anti-erosion tape. They often install a product like this where the surfaces impinge to reduce wear.

Jimbo

[masalai]

peel ply is "polyester taffeta" from the fabrics trade and is an effective release to cover and roll in your fillets and taped joins. If you can find a "friendly fabric wholesaler, polyester-taffeta in 55m rolls and about 55 inches wide becomes quite cheap (put two bands of stretchy "electricians tape" around the roll close together where you need to cut off a section of the roll, say 10 inches wide, then cut with a hacksaw) - comes in lots of colours so further discounts may be had for a colour that is not moving... as the peel-ply is removed before bogging&sanding that area, sticking something else there, or painting that part of the finished product...

[rwatson]

Originally Posted by masalai

peel ply is "polyester taffeta" from the fabrics .

Nah - you cant rely on the quality of 'taffeta' from a fabric shop for fibrglassing. I had really good results for the first two lots I bought, and the third batch stuck to the glass.

Tafeta aint tafeta all the time, it has many variants in the mix.

I only buy peel ply now, its not worth the risk.

[masalai]

If your supplier is worth his salt to assure the "polyester" is true, that is the guarantee of non-stick-ability for epoxy work... 'taffeta' is not the keyword...

[mongo75]

where can I get that plastic so I can do that to my boat? I gotta smooth out a few hundred sq ft, and would prefer to get it right the first time. Longboarding sucks!

[masalai]

Peelply is not a substitute for long-boarding, but if you have LARGE 'flatish' surfaces to smooth then look around for an air driven "helicopter" sanding device... The 4 blades rotate about 60rpm - each being about 4" x 10" and about 4" out from the centre - tried it for about 60 seconds - definitely need full coveralls, a proper-filtered-face-mask & goggles as dust everywhere, but BLOODY MAGIC

Originally Posted by Jimbo1490

Which model would that be? I work on 320 and 330's frequently and the wings are definitely metal. Some parts of the wings may be composite, but the basic structure (skins and spars) are riveted aluminum.

Jimbo

The A 380 and A 440M have most of the wing structure (backbone, leading edge, flaps etc.) made in different composites. The 380 backbone for example is carbon comp. the "nose" is Fortron, a PPS composite, see picture. Same PPS parts are used in the A 340 models. None of the wings of these models are full composite. Even the coming A 350 and Boeing 747 are not completely composite aircraft.
so that:

Originally Posted by DaveJ

The Boeing 787 is first of its type where the whole aircraft is composite. That means wings, fuselage, stabilators (vertical and horizontal) everything.

Is not correct.

Regards
Richard

[missinginaction]

Originally Posted by SamSam

At the end of the thread I posted above is a link to a 'Duckworks' article on how to achieve a glass smooth finish on projects without sanding and fairing, similar to using peel ply....

http://duckworksmagazine.com/03/r/ar...ass/bottom.htm

I'd like to try this technique on the deck's I'm installing. I noticed that the author mentions .030" sheet. .030 sheet is about 1/32" thick. I think that he meant to write .003" sheet. Looking at the photos it seems more reasonable.

MIA

[masalai]

Good one SamSam - seems to work very well with ply or veneer surfaces and looks great...

[rwatson]

Originally Posted by missinginaction

I'd like to try this technique on the deck's I'm installing. I noticed that the author mentions .030" sheet. .030 sheet is about 1/32" thick. I think that he meant to write .003" sheet. Looking at the photos it seems more reasonable.

MIA

Thanks for the explanation about that. I still dont know where you would buy it - supermarkets?

Make sure the surface is really developable. I have tried it with 'shirt oax materials' on slightly compound surfaces, and it left thick ridges where the plastic crinkled. Was a real pain to sand back.

Even with Peel ply, if you try to cover really big sections, you get the same problem. I now use peelply in about 1 -1.5 metre squares only.

[rwatson]

Originally Posted by masalai

If your supplier is worth his salt to assure the "polyester" is true, that is the guarantee of non-stick-ability for epoxy work... 'taffeta' is not the keyword...

Tafetta was the 'keyword' suggested as the substitute.

What retail fabric supplier would know anything about the suitability for use with fg ?

[masalai]

RW, What I meant that it was pure polyester as that does not adhere to epoxy - as a clear plastic, or, fabric with a 'weft & warp' as opposed to 'woven' we use those little metal rollers to fair out the fillet joins and ensure no bubbles etc... We had a bit of difficulty with large areas (the copper mix for the bottom - 4 kg of fine pure copper powder mixed into a special batch of epoxy, for each hull below the waterline)...