Mixing some filler

I hope I can describe this well enough...

On the leading edge sheeting, I sanded it a bit too much and managed to poke a hole in it. I was able to pry it up and hit it with some CA, but it isn't perfectly flat or smooth.

I'm thinking that I can make some "paste" and spread it over this area and then sand it to shape.

If I took a bunch of balsa dust and mixed it with some elmer's white glue, would this be effective? I also have microballons.

I'm sure I'm not the first to face this, so I'm looking (yet again) for some advice!

>I hope I can describe this well enough...
>
>On the leading edge sheeting, I sanded it a bit too much and
>managed to poke a hole in it. I was able to pry it up and
>hit it with some CA, but it isn't perfectly flat or smooth.
>
>I'm thinking that I can make some "paste" and spread it over
>this area and then sand it to shape.
>
>If I took a bunch of balsa dust and mixed it with some
>elmer's white glue, would this be effective? I also have
>microballons.
>
>I'm sure I'm not the first to face this, so I'm looking (yet
>again) for some advice!

Ron B.
F4Fguy

Tom:

Almost nothing can be done to solve this from the outside.You may be able to fill up the hole with filler,but it will continue to sink over time and eventually it will crack.
(1) Cut out the offending area in a diamond shape as long as the longest dimension of the damage,and no wider than the damage.
(2)Remove one bay of the shear web to give access to the inside.
(3)Slip a piece of sheeting inside and mark it to the diamond cutout,remove and cutout.This is your filler,take extra care to be sure it fits exactly.Set it aside.
(4)Cut another piece of sheet to fit between the ribs and under the LE sheeting.
(5)Glue it in place inside,being sure it's well seated against the underside of the LE sheeting.
(6)Glue in the diamond filler piece,and.......
(7)Block sand flush with adjacent sheeting.

I know this sounds like a lot of trouble,but otherwise you will severely compromise the strength of the "D" tube.

That does seem rather extreme. The dent is no larger than a dime and it is more of a rough spot than anything else.

Ron is telling you right but depending on the situation there may be an easier alternative. I keep a couple sheets of 1/32 balsa in my scrap pile for patches like you are describing. I just cut a piece large enough to fit over the area then glue it on with titebond. Once it dries, sand with a sanding block to level the surface. This makes the filler solid balsa so you won't have a shrinkage problem.

As a side note, I also got carried away sanding the leading edge sheeting on my Legacy and it was way too thin in many places. I should have ripped it off and started over but instead I just covered the entire leading edge with carbon fiber vial. This gave the very thin balsa enough additional strength that I don't have to worry about poking holes in it. Added a little weight but not enough to really matter.

Ah-ha! Maybe that is something to try! I was thinking about using some cloth hinge material, since the area is so small. I'm not too worried about a tiny bit more weight.

I am not yet able to build at a majority of the levels you guys can. Not yet at least

But I do like a good looking ship.

Once I figure out why my firewall is messing with me, I'll try and get some pics up.

Whatever you do, don't use Elmer's white glue as your filler base. It won't sand well, will tend to ball up, etc. Almost any other kind of glue would be better.