Hi All,
Thanks for the frank discussion of discerning the presence of peal ply.
I'm one who opted for the accellerated tail kit to avoid the intensive labor
and epoxy exposure involved in these extensive layups...I also avoided the
learning process and experience with peal ply. I recall construction tips
suggesting that when using peal ply, always leave a "dry" end to grab on to
in order to facilitate removal; this is not done with the factory layups of
the control surfaces which require the removal of 1" of foam at the ends,
some double faced tape, and peal ply applied to the inner surface of the
skins. After merrily removing the foam with my trusty Stanley knife, I
wasn't making much headway using the knife to remove the double faced tape,
so I used my Dremel sanding drum to remove the tape and (I believed) peal
ply. After overdoing this in a small initial area (sanding through the FG
skin which was subsequently repaired) I was left with a matte surface which
I presumed was the scuffed-up inner surface of the FG skin...NOT!
Thanks to reading the on-line discussion re: peal ply @ root rib, last night
I inspected all my control surface ends and poked around with my knife and I
found a few threads which I grabbed with needle nosed pliers. Lo and behold,
they pealed back to reveal a virgin FG inner skin surface. Since my
aggressive Dremel work seriously degraded the integrity of the peal ply
(which was white, not green, with nary a red thread to be found), it has
only come off in bits and pieces after several hours of effort, but I'm
breathing easier and will approach embedded peal ply with care in the
future.
Fred, A194
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