Looking for wingtip skins

[Ragwing nut]

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The complete #10 rib which you can see is the l/h rib in the 1st pic, and the l/h one on the last pic. Also need to replace #12 nose rib which is the r/h rib in the last picture.

I have plenty of ribs. I haven't located any good ribs with the cutouts already in them since its only one per wing. If you want to mek your own cutouts, I can take care of you there.

[Scott]

Scott, All of the stamped rib wings I have seen had a L and R flange rib stacked together to make a very strong box rib at the wing root. If I need I can shoot a picture tomorrow.

Yup, that's how mine are, even with that they were bent and cracked. I de-riveted the flange-to-flange ribs, fabricated the doublers from 2024-T3 .032", riveted them in place, then reassembled the ribs. The only tricky part was fabricating and using a small bucking bar that fit inside the double rib.
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[Scott]

Right on Scott. I looks like you cut up a spare rib to use as the splice? We will most likely repair what we cannot replace. That number 10 rib was quite corroded and so I don't think we wanna try to salvage it. So looking at what I've got, do you have some spare parts to sell?
Thanks,
Matt

Sorry Matt I don't. If you're really stuck for nose ribs I could probably make a couple but I'm out of 2024 T3 .025" material so would need to order a sheet. I used 025 for all my repairs except the root rib doublers which are 032".

Having said that I honestly don't see any reason not to reuse what you have with appropriate repairs if you can't find better.

The corroded one probably looks worse than it is. The worst of mine were not that bad but here's what I would do; Media blast using aluminium oxide 080 media (keep the nozzle a good distance from the surface to ensure against deformation). The corrosion will clean off easily, then simply spot check the material thickness. If you have more than 020 or so I think you're fine if not you can always add a local doubler. Etch, alodine and prime the parts and you'll have a very acceptable set of ribs for your wings.

It is a hell of a lot of work no matter what!!

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[Scott]

Matt, there's more details on rib and aileron cove repairs here:

http://c-fclr.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_5305.html

Scroll about 2/3rds down the page to March 2015

[Mpbethke]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Scott nice work on restoring those ribs. Looks great. I will follow your advice with 0.25 aluminum for patching up some simpler repairs. I'm going to order a few ribs from D&E to move this project along because it looks like an immense amount of time can be sunk into sheet metal repairs. The problem I'm still up against is the wingtip skins. Does anyone have suggestions on fabricating them up or have some to sell?

Thanks,
-Matt

[Hank Jarrett]

Did you ever post photos of your damaged "wing tip skins". They are different for different wings. Need to know which type you need.

Hank

[Scott]

The problem I'm still up against is the wingtip skins. Does anyone have suggestions on fabricating them up or have some to sell?

Thanks,
-Matt

Matt, they are very soft material, you'll be surprised how far gone they need to be before they can't be straightened. The leading edge is spot welded but can be riveted if the welds have popped. It would be a chore to make new ones, making the bucks would be time consuming. There would need to be four... upper and lower for each wing.

[Mpbethke]

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[Mpbethke]

Did you ever post photos of your damaged "wing tip skins". They are different for different wings. Need to know which type you need.

Hank

Hank here are some pictures of the skin. You can see the gray bondo. It is covering cracks in the aluminum.

[Robert Lees]

Eminently repairable. Mine were no worse than those.To my knowledge, these are made of weldable aluminium (the L/E seams are spot welded).

I'd suggest you take them to a classic car repair shop; they'll fix the cracks and get them to shape in very short order.

Rob

[Mpbethke]

Eminently repairable. Mine were no worse than those.To my knowledge, these are made of weldable aluminium (the L/E seams are spot welded).

I'd suggest you take them to a classic car repair shop; they'll fix the cracks and get them to shape in very short order.

Rob

Right on Rob, great suggestion with the classic car shop.

Ya'll are very quick to respond and an awesome group.

-Matt

[Mpbethke]

I went ahead and ordered ribs and aileron cove from Scott Ruffner from D&E in FL. He makes stamped aluminum ribs for Taylorcrafts...however the spar channel is set up for a metal spar. All you have to do is cut out the channel to accommodate the thicker spar and re-bend the flange. This falls under "owner-supplied" parts jurisdiction for certified repairs.

[Hank Jarrett]

Yes, those are actually not bad at all. Welding aluminum is NOT the same as welding steel and this is fairly soft stuff so make sure teh person you use has experience with aluminum. The guy I use for all my welding once butt welded two soda cans together! THAT is skill! You will also need to develop some metal bumping skills to smooth the aluminum out or find a custom car shop. A shop will probably have a small English wheel to smooth things out (a tool I DO NOT have yet so I go old school and hand bump and slap). There are many really good videos on aluminum metal bumping. It is NOT hard and does not require a lot of skill (if it did I couldn't do it). It DOES require PATIENCE. You have to not hammer it into shape, but slowly "encourage it" to go where you want it. It is really rewarding when it starts to work. I think of the aluminum as "clay" and I am just gently moving it to get thicker where it is stretched and stretch it where it is too thick. First step is to get ALL the Bondo off. You can then tap it straight like you want it and get the bulges and dents out (SLOWLY! If you hit it once and it moves, you are hitting too hard!). You want HUNDREDS of taps, not a few blows! This is the instrument panel I tapped out from a flat sheet. It is also the first time I ever did any metal bumping. It is fun and rewarding, but time consuming.

[rfrederick]

All, I am new to the group but have been flying a BC12D for a few years.
I am working on the wingtips and found quite a bit of bondo on one side. I was wondering if anyone has a set they are willing to part with before I go down the fabrication path.

Thanks in advance,
--Rick

[Hank Jarrett]

Can you post some photos of your tips? I think you may be referring to the leading edge tips, not the tube wing tips. If so, they are probably the BEST part to start learning metal bumping. The aluminum is pretty much dead soft and easy to work with. If it has hardened up you can anneal it pretty easy. If the photos do look like they are beyond help I should have some here (Va Beach, VA). There were a few different types of LE tips (and tip tubes) so we need to see what you have to see if we have serviceable ones.

Hank