Intersection Fairings Angst

I just did a search on the topic of intersection fairings, but surprisingly, I could not find much on my particular issue. My stock Van's lower fairings do not fit well around the gear leg fairings. There are gaps between it and the gear leg fairings. Also, the trailing edge isn't well defined either.

I am wondering if this is as good as it gets, or what? Did people do something about the fit or am i worrying about it too much?

I really can't think of many good solutions either.

1. Van's has you add 2 layers of cloth to stiffen up the piece. However, i am skeptical that 2 layers of cloth will be enough to cure for a tigher fit. Am i wrong here?

2. Flox or fill the gap. However, it's just going to be ugly with how much might be required to fill the void.

3. More screws to hold things together???

Right side. It's a good quarter inch gap.



Left side. The fiberglass finish is better but the trailing edge does not want to naturally close up on its own.


Any ideas is greatly appreciated!

Jae

jchang10 said:

Any ideas is greatly appreciated!
Jae

Click to expand...

A lot of RV builders buy better fairings from Fairings Etc.

http://www.fairings-etc.com

Vans fairings take a lot of trimming

I agree, the fairings available through Van's are pretty rough. But with some (actually a lot) of work, they will fit fine. At least 1/2 of the fairing faces need to be trimmed off, which gets rid of a lot of the wobbly edges. I found the trailing faces to be the worst, but again, most all of that can and should be trimmed off. You can see much of the trimming I did with the Van's fairings here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mikerv9a/WheelPants02#

When all the crying and cussing was over, I'm happy with the end result. Fairings Etc parts, while good quality, are really expensive compared to Van's. I did use Fairings Etc nose gear to cowl fairing, but even it took a lot of trimming.

Fairings

Jae
I suggest you wax the gear leg fairing and then lay up cloth on the inside until you have enough material to sand the outside to a nice shape. Using the gear leg as the mold you can make an exact fit. Then sand right thru the original cloth to get the desired thickness. To fix the trailing edge cut off any section that is causing it to wave or sit proud and layup a new edge using the other side as the mold. In my experience that looks like a fairly minor fitment issue. You should try fitting a plenum.

A friend of mine helped re-model the vans stock intersection fairings.

Essentially, we glassed the fairings to the wheelpants and then split the fairing vertically, along the same axis as the wheel pant.

Image of Intersection Fairing

We added a "tab" on the front fairing that overlaps the back half to keep the fit neat and in place during flight.

Drilled holes and cleco'd the fairing to the wheel pants during the initial glass work.

Another source

Take one: I too recently purchased intersection fairings from Van's. They are junk and I intend to return them. They are very rough and badly misshapen, wavy toward the edges deep into the areas that don't get trimmed, not to mention very uneven resin application with some large areas covered in 1/8" thick solid resin while other large areas are totally resin starved... Junk.

Take two: I've just ordered a set of intersection fairings from Jan Hanekom (http://www.rvbits.com/). I haven't received them yet, but from photos on his website and discussion with him about how they're prepared, I fully expect that they'll be of far better quality than Van's (I'll be happy to report on that after I've received them). Jan was very responsive to my many questions, and he's set up to handle international orders (he's in South Africa) with ease. Cost of the fairings is comparable to Van's. Shipping (from South Africa to USA) was $35 USD, which is obviously a bit more than US domestic shipping, but not bad considering.

rv9av8tr said:

You can see much of the trimming I did with the Van's fairings here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mikerv9a/WheelPants02#

Click to expand...

Mike... wow, i can hardly believe those are stock fairings. Since i can't return the lower fairings after drilling 4 #40 holes in them, I'll give some judicious trimming a try first. Thanks.

Neal@F14 said:

A lot of RV builders buy better fairings from Fairings Etc.

http://www.fairings-etc.com

Click to expand...

Neal... on the second plane (like that'll ever happy), after-market fairings is a no-brainer. unfortunately, i already drilled some holes in mine, so it makes it a harder decision now.

Beancounter said:

I suggest you wax the gear leg fairing and then lay up cloth on the inside until you have enough material to sand the outside to a nice shape. You should try fitting a plenum.

Click to expand...

Beancounter... it definitely sounds like a lot of work. i had thought of something similar. one would need to use a bit of filler too since it would be difficult to get rid of any air bubbles when laying up in that way. i am not sure i have the patience or skills to pull it off well.

No way to a plenum!

gciampa said:

Essentially, we glassed the fairings to the wheelpants and then split the fairing vertically, along the same axis as the wheel pant.

Image of Intersection Fairing

Click to expand...

gciampa... i have seen that done before too. i figured i can give that a go some later time if i feel like improving the stock version.

My build budget was shot, so I used Vans fairings. And yes they had wavy edges and fit was suspect. But It really didn't take a herculean effort to make them fit and look nice. Just have to remember, It's fiberglass!....make it fit how you want.

You can still shape the fairings a good bit by carefully using a heat gun to warm the fairing and adjust the shape. Spring clamps on the fairing while they cool should help to conform. Remember, this is plastic. You can mold a piece of fibreglass significantly with this method and not appreciably weaken it. You can then add a little micro or a couple layers to get the final fit, if needed. This way you start from a position much closer to the final desired.

1-2-3, and you have a base part which fits your airplane. What you see here was a 1/2 hour, maybe 45 minutes.

Dang, Dan is good!

fairings

Yeah he sure is good, but is he available now that he's flying?