Fred,
I took some pics, but haven't had a chance to post them. The process is
dead simple, though. I cut two pieces of styrene, 2.25" wide, the
length of the flaps (about 63"), then added the hem tape to one edge.
The tape is 1" wide, so I marked back 1" onto the wing and drew a line
with a grease pen, parallel to the underside of the wing edge. I then
notched the styrene, where it had to clear the flap hinges, removed the
backing tape from the hem tape and applied the strip to the wing. The
width was such that it covered the gap, spilling over onto the flaps.
It is not truly a pressure seal, but is sufficient to direct the air
under the flap and not up, into the closeout. My guess is that it also
deflects the air, under the flaps, even with the flaps deployed, as
there is a definite lack of drag. If you do this mod, be prepared to
re-learn your approaches and it wouldn't hurt to have a good bit of
runway on the first few attempts...
Jeff - Baby Blue
Fred Klein wrote:
>
>
>> John mentioned how sealing up the aircraft would clean up the lines,
>> resulting in better speeds. I decided to add some gap seals to the
>> wing, to seal the flaps, upon retraction. What I used was a 2.25"
>> wide piece of .020" styrene, a product that I use, almost daily in my
>> sign/graphics business. I attached it to the wing using 1" hem tape
>> (a very strong, two sided tape, used to hem banners).
>
> Hey Jeff...
>
> I've also had email exchanges w/ John Lawton and have perused a site
> he recommended for info on gap seals...all very interesting. Could you
> go into a little more detail on the nature of your installation?
> Exactly where and in what plane have you attached this styrene? Does
> it create a pressure seal?. In what way does it alter the airflow?
>
> Fred
> A194
>
> working on cockpit module (finally!)
>
>
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