Big Stick Wing Repair

Several days ago the wing came off the Big Stick after the left tip touched on landing. It cracked the mid-seam and tore off the front attachment knob thingy. The simple job got complex when a lack of attention on my part lead to further damage to the top of the wing.

I epoxied the underside seam and used my drill as a weight to flex it down.

I pulled back the cote from the center and laid down 3 layers of fine mesh fiberglass cloth with alcohol thinned epoxy as the resin.

Not sure how secure the top was, I laid down 2 layers of fiberglass.

Sanded it flat.

Same on the underside.

While that set for 24 hrs, I examined the broken forward wing attachment. There should be a section of plywood that juts out; that goes into the fuse to secure the wing's front edge, the back end being held by wing screws.

Cut it clean as a right angle. You don't want this too strong or instead of giving way as it did here, the energy will break up the wing or fuse.

Epoxied in a new block.

Epoxied in some side supports. I sanded down the aft parts so they were flush with the attachment hard point.

In trying to sand down the very thick epoxy on top I didn't take into account the slight V in the center. The sander ground down a bit of balsa on wither side of center. I had to peel back the cote and fill it with wood filler. It provides some strength over Hobby-lite, of which mine had dried out.

The bottom finished. I painted the forward attachment with black gloss enamel. I used black cote aft as I didn't want to waste the red.

Ran a piece of black tape across the front and back as a soft shim for better fit.

The top is nice and smooth, re-coted, and applied a new sticker.

I had checked the fit of the forward attachment several times as I rebuilt it. I wholly expect that when I go to put it on, it will not fit and snap clean off... we'll see. Waiting for that black paint to dry.

Toying with putting a stabilizer on it.

Looking forward to flying her again soon!