Fairchild 22 Improvement Ideas
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Aileron Coves

The aileron coves on my plane are recessed and the fabric must make an acute bend to fit into the recessed area.  The fabric has pulled away, causing interference with the aileron, and the cove itself has been pulled out of shape by the fabric on the wing, probably due to overtightening.  This illustration shows the problem:

The fix suggested by Harold Scheck to both the fabric pull-away problem and the problem of over-tightening of the fabric deforming the aileron cove forming strips is to use a sandwich of thin aluminum forming strips screwed to the false spar.  This sandwich will contain the fabric from pulling away and will provide reinforcement to the forming strips to maintain the shape of the aileron cove, thus preventing interference with the aileron.  The best construction mechanism is to use two separate strips, each strip forming one side of the "W" shape of the aileron cove.