Wings

M

Mainebushpilot

New member
Good evening all,

My friend and I were looking over my wings earlier and had this discussion and prompted this question, were the wings varnished prior to covering? If so, sprayed or brushed or does it really matter? He seemed to think that the dope would be enough when applied that the wings shouldn't need to be.

I also ask because after looking at the original wings I noticed they are not varnished (and have slight water stains, but the new wings I have are mostly varnished and look amazing.) so prior to finishing the varnish job on my wings I figured I'd ask.
Thanks,
-J
 
If you're going to be using Ceconite and Poly Fiber products the manual states that wood surfaces should have old, flaking varnish sanded off and new poly-varnish applied before covering. I'm not familiar with other covering products but they should also have instructions on how to apply them.
 
I used Polyfibers epoxy varnish, prior to recovering. The finish turned out so smooth, I had to scuff it with ScotchBrite, to give it some "tooth" for the PolyBrush. Tom Robinson
 
I hauled my wings up to Randy Scott's shop in Carlos, MN. He ran the wing plant for Bellanca. He beefed up the wing walk, sealed the spar butts, and applied a patch(can't remember where.) Mine were from my 14-19, and Randy said there were in good shape. Jerry Sather, of Weber Aero, did the sign-off on the work that Randy did. When I brought them back to Texas, I put the epoxy varnish on them. Tom Robinson
 
There is a mention in this thread of sealing the spars. I am assuming that it means sealing the butt end of the spar at the fuselage end. I have heard pros and cons of doing this and would be very interested in hearing from the collective wisdom of the group.
 
From my reading of Bellanca history, it seems that the wings were dipped in a vat of preservative when they were just made. I dont know what the preservative was, but after 60/70 years it probably has no sealing ability left. As far as sealing the spar butts goes, there was a factory letter or possibly it was a service bulletin sometime in the 50s or 60s saying that if you were having spar butt cracking, you fill the cracks with a glue (dont recall which glue) and then put a thin plywood cover over the butt. I have seen many wings done like that. I think most IAs would make you tear that off at annual to inspect the actual amount of cracking. As far as sealing the spar butts of wings now, if it passes the piano wire test , then I would use a penetrating Epoxy, since it will go just a little farther into the wood than varnish. Wood absorbs and releases moisture slowly according to the moisture level of its environment. End grain absorption is faster than along the grain and leads to cracking. Slowing the moisture exchange with varnish or penetrating epoxy reduces the chance of cracking. I think that the EAA has a lot of information on this subject. ____Grant.
 
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