marv422

I recently purchased a Hanger 9 super stearman. The covering and paint is great, but the wheel pants (being light weight glass) would stress crack if you looked at them hard. I took them off, taped them up, inverted them and filled them with great stuff foam. After they had completely hardened I took a coat hanger bent to the curve of my tires, heated it over a torch and carved out the hollow for my tires. The more you leave, the stronger the pants will be. You could now throw them against a wall with no cracks! And yes it does add some weight. My Saito 1.80 has not complained, but I would weigh the pros and cons on a smaller bird.

Marv422

blikseme300

My Feedback: (118)

Very good hint - I am going to try this right away!

Safe Flying!

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Great idea! I use the same stuff to fill wheel wells for retracts. Never thought of using it for wheel pants too! Thanks!

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Thanks for the suggestion!

Jerry

marv422

P.S. Make sure to tape up and let cure completely or you will have a mess on your hands.

Marv422

OldRookie

My Feedback: (13)

What is great stuff?

Greg

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

It's foam insulation in a can. Comes with a little wand/tube, put insulation in a wall through a pinhole. Or, fill up wheel pants!

Look in your Home Improvement Center for it.

Best wishes,
Dave Olson

flapper

Hi,

Have similar problem with wheel pants for an Extra 300S . The ABS pants are cracking underneath as shown in the photo below. Will try the foam method discussed and see how it goes. Have seen similar products for sale in hardware stores here used for insulation and for filling holes/cracks. Does anyone have photos of pants they have fixed using the foam??


Regards
flapper

BillS

Foam reinforcement for wheel pants sure sounds like a great idea. Weight is not a problem for me but how much weight does it add?

Have you tried the technique on a dinged foam wing? I have a Kougar wing in need of repair.

Thanks.

Bill

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

Does anyone have any before and after pictures with some details on what they did?

marv422

As far as weight, not real sure. I do think its less than balsa when fully cured. As for the process, Tape the outside of the wheel pants as if you were going to paint the inside only. Start squirting great stuff into the pants at the very back and work your way out. Bear in mind that this stuff expands!! I waited a couple of days before going to work on the forming. The pants had a big foam mushroom on top which I cut off flush with the wheel opening. At that point I bent a coat hanger into a loop a little larger than my tires and heated it over a torch. You can scoop out what you want gone until you get the room you need. Again, bear in mind that the more you leave, the stronger it will be. As for exterior work, not sure that this material would work to well unless you covered it. It is very porous when cured. A friend at the field mentioned a form of this foam that did not expand as much. It might be less porous, but I would think it would weigh more when cured. Hope this helps. Sorry, no pictures, daughter borrowed my camera and well you know how that goes..............

Marv422

BillS

I am going to give the very good idea a try and will weigh the pants before and after.

Bill

marv422

Bill,

Please post results.

Thanks,
Marvin

marv422

Has anyone tried this and weighed the pants before and after? Wish I had weighed mine, but I don't think it is any more than balsa would be.

marv422

BillS

The weight answer is virtually nothing.

On my pants the weight before Great Stuff was 1.4oz and 1.5oz. The weight after is 1.5oz and 1.5oz. The postal scale resolves to a tenth of a once. The wheel opening has not been cut.

After tapping the outside you might want to put a clamp across the axle area to prevent the pants from becoming slightly pregnant.

Bill

larksrc

Does this work with fiberglass too?

da Rock

It should, as GreatStuff sticks like crazy to anything it touches. I think it'd stick to water.

When you use it, you had best be prepared to deal with it like it was CA. It won't glue things like CA does, but it so very sticky that you really DO NOT want to try and wipe it up with anything that you don't want the GreatStuff attached to, like your hand. It is VERY sticky. When I use it, I treat it like it's real thick yellow foamy CA that will drip on stuff and ruin it forever. Because it will. And if you try to snatch up that first drip with your hand, you got the stuff on your hand for days. And wiping it up with paper towels is much preferred, but don't expect whatever the drip hit to clean up spotlessly. It sticks good, yes.

bldrums

also: dont use it if you have painted the inside of the wheel pants. It turns into a gooey mess and you will never get it all out

skypupmut

Great stuf realy is great i experimented and used it when building my skypup ultralight for gluing in false ribs and ribs to the main spar of the wings. the gluing time was the same as the epoxy I used ( west system)
saved a pound per panel on second set of wings I built
boy does it stick to anything. and surprisingly strong
great stuffff

RC_Fanatic

My Feedback: (1)

Did you use the minimally expanding foam or the one that expands a lot more -- I think they call it gap filling? I need to reinforce the pants on my 40-size GP Extra 300 as they crack really easily. On my third set already!

BillS

Don’t know which foam was used but it expanded a lot. The foam was a pain to dig out for the wheels.

Next time I would use a clamp across the outside and fill about half full with expanding foam. The cavity will fill up. Also a balsa plug as a rough representation of the wheel area might have been easier to remove.

The weights were not accurate because different postal scales were used. Memory is that the foam added 1/2 oz to each pant.

Bill

RC_Fanatic

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks, Bill. Guess I'll use what I have. Thanks for the tip in clamping the sides together. Don't want them to look like maternity pants!

sscherin

My Feedback: (1)

OK I wish I'd read more carefully before I jumped

I got the stuff all over my hands.. Soap and water won't touch the stuff. Just let it dry and suffer.

The can says to clean up with acetone.
It also says it will seal the can shut in about 2 hours so find a few extra projects round the house that need to be filled with super sticky aint nothing going to take it off spray foam.

Hmm maybe I'll go fill the annoying neighbors mailbox..

Sidekick

My friend got a Hangar 9 kit ( Pulse ) it had the best, and strongest set of wheel pants I have ever seen. Next model I build, I will get a set of these, and I will bet if you crash, the pants will still be like brand new.Never have to repair wheel pants again.
Sidekick.

sscherin

My Feedback: (1)

OK I got the large gap filling foam..

I'm working with a pair of GP Super Sportster wheel pants.. 2 piece ABS..

the foam kept expanding after it hardened and the pants split on the glue line..

No big deal.. I'll just shave the foam flat and re glue...