To get back to the original post:

3M makes a couple of leading edge tapes that work pretty well. Anything much thicker than these are hard to bend around sharp bends or angles. The Cessna stabs seems to have a larger radius than Maules so the thicker tapes may be a good answer.


http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/e ... RCHW15WVbl

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebse ... 8673DL.pdf

Don't think any of these would help with the boulder that hit Scolopax's horizontal stab.

To cut down on rock damage we would remove the lower rotating beacon and VHF and Tacan antennas and tape the heck out of anything sticking out. Still managed to bust brake lines and put an occasional hole in the belly. The 56" tundra tire can launch some big rocks. Props never threw a rock. (having the engine 13 feet up and the prop 6 feet off the ground helps)

Anyone sitting in the back of a C130 on touch down on a dirt or gravel runway will attest to the amount of rocks being thrown up from the tires.

I second the 3M tape.

Jake

Good thread.

We have a curved leading edge on the horizontal stabiliser. I am looking for a non-certified product (read cheap) which would suit a tailwing with a curve.
I have inflicted UNTOLD damage to my leading edge.

This is caused entirely caused by stones and rocks, thrown by the main wheels, while landing off-airport.
By reviewing footage, we see it almost always happens when the stationary wheels first touch and have to spin up by dragging on the rocks. This throws the largest debris the highest.

The best dent caved in the 4130N tube, just a golf-ball sized rock. Yikes. Lucky my stabiliser isn't made of 0.025" sheet aluminium.

Battson wrote:Good thread.

We have a curved leading edge on the horizontal stabiliser. I am looking for a non-certified product (read cheap) which would suit a tailwing with a curve.
I have inflicted UNTOLD damage to my leading edge.

This is caused entirely caused by stones and rocks, thrown by the main wheels, while landing off-airport.
By reviewing footage, we see it almost always happens when the stationary wheels first touch and have to spin up by dragging on the rocks. This throws the largest debris the highest.

The best dent caved in the 4130N tube, just a golf-ball sized rock. Yikes. Lucky my stabiliser isn't made of 0.025" sheet aluminium.

The 3m tape mentioned above is what's on mine.



Probably won't stop a dent, but it's stopped the paint chips at least. Disregard the level, I was doing a rough rigging check.

I had 3m tape on the Luscombe and it helped quite a bit. Not anywhere near as good as those thick cessna boots but better than nothing.