Wing Repair

[Jody]

I busted the wing of my Aspire 2m, the damage is just off the wing's center and is from the leading edge back to and including the spar. Is this repairable? Is there plans available to help with the fix?

Jody

dmcinnis@kos.net

[Dave Holmes]

There are many knowledgable and competant modellers who say once the main spar is busted the wing is toast.

That being said, I didn't know this after I cracked up my first plane the first time, and I went ahead and repaired it, and just the other evening got in flight # 166 since that crash.

I opened the wing up and using my dremel tool, a router bit (dremel) and the router attachment, I shaved off 1/2 the thickness of the remaining top and bottom spar pieces for one rib bay each way. I cut a piece of suitable wood to length and shaved the ends one rib bay worth so it would laminate onto /overlap the remaining stubs. Where the new and old pieces overlapped I used lots of 30 minute epoxy, and plenty of care and clamps to ensure correct alignment. After the epoxy cured I wrapped the lapped portions tightly with strong thread and coated it with with thinned epoxy.

Once the spars were made whole again I went ahead and replaced busted ribs and shear webs as necessary and covered it as normal. It may never be as good as new, but it will fly.

I suppose I should have taken pictures of the process, but I never thought at the time someone else would be interested.

Good luck!

Dave