Q-55: I have noted that the rubber bands used to hold the wing to my model's fuselage are beginning to cut into the wing trailing edge material. Is there an easy way to reinforce this area so that the rubber bands don’t eventually cut through the trailing edge?
A-55: Years ago we used a folded, thin sheet of aluminum as a TE
reinforcement. The technique worked, but occasionally the aluminum would act
almost like a knife, cutting into the rubber bands.
A better technique was to add a thin piece of plywood to the upper wing TE at
the center-section. This proved to be kind of bulky and looked poor sitting on
top of your covering material, but it did the job.
Modern material technology has produced carbon fiber (like graphite/epoxy) that
is extremely strong, yet very thin. I have been using a .007-inch-thick
(1/4-inch-wide) carbon-fiber tape that I purchased from Aerospace Composite
Products (www.acp-composites.com/).
I cut roughly a 6-inch length and cement it on the top of the TE stock (at the
wing center-section) using thin cyanoacrylate and accelerator. The combination
of the carbon and the cyanoacrylate makes an extremely hard surface that no
rubber band will penetrate. Also, at only .007-inch thick, you can easily cover
this reinforcement, which makes for a neat installation.