8Once the wing structure has been closed up, start removing material from the leading edge and then shape and sand everything flush and smooth.
11Wipe the dust off the model and get some matching cov- ering material, your covering tools and supplies. For the Hangar 9 Pawnee used in the article, you’ll need matching UltraCote, a few sharp new hobby blades, a covering iron and
some rubbing alcohol. The alcohol is used to degrease the covering all around the repair. This removes the oily residue from your
fingers. Cut the white base color covering about 1-inch larger all
around and apply the covering patch in two pieces starting with
the bottom side of the wing and followed by the top piece.
9Filling the seams with a lightweight spackling compound is the next step. I use Red Devil “One Time” filler for this. It is extremely lightweight, dries in 30 minutes and is very easy
to sand smooth. To make the filler easier to apply, use a damp
sponge to lightly moisten the wood around the repair. Use a scrap
piece of sheeting and apply the filler like you are frosting a cake.
Press it firmly into all the seams and dents and then let dry.
10Use 220-grit sandpaper and sand everything smooth. If there are any starved areas needing more filler, just repeat the process and sand again until everything is
level and smooth.
90 MODELAIRPLANENEWS . COM
12Once the white has been applied, cut to shape and apply the trim color and overlap all the seams by about an inch. Be sure to seal all the edges down securely
and, while you are at it, check all the other edges and covering
seams on the wing and iron them down as well.
A step-by-step video of this repair
is now playing on the “Members Only”
section of modelairplanenews.com
Don’t look now, but your wing panel is ready for action again! If you
kept everything neat, your repair will be hard to see. That’s it!
Stay tuned for more common repairs in our new “Repair Tech”
series. If you have any specific repairs you’d like to see, email me at
gerryy@airage.com. I’d love to hear from you!
