Ready for Fabric

powers · Post by **powers** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 09:14

its rand-o-plate by randolph its expensive but its tough as nails. it also has zinc in it for a corrosion inhibitor.

N3840E · Post by **N3840E** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 09:05

powers wrote:its rand-o-plate by randolph its expensive but its tough as nails. it also has zinc in it for a corrosion inhibitor.

Thanks, I have heard of it just never used it. In addition to it's protective qualities I like the looks of it.

powers · Post by **powers** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 20:28

Completed the test flight today (10-30-08). Everything went well, flew straight as an arrow. Spars still looked good after the flight. I'll get some pics up in the next couple of days.

Paul Agaliotis · Post by **Paul Agaliotis** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 07:46

Great job. All of the hard work that goes into a project brings that feeling of satisfaction and anticipation on the test flight. It a wonderful feeling.
Welcome back to the sky.
Paul

Paul Courchesne · Post by **Paul Courchesne** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 22:14

Hi Powers nice job.
I rebuilt my fusalage 2 years ago and it was a joy to do. The wings were brand new when I purchased the plane but last summer the hail decided to make a few hole in'er.
I will be redoing my wings starting next week.
Do you have a material list all ready made up for the wings.
Did you use screws or Rivets ?
Do I have to rib stich?

I will start reading about it this week.

Thanks
Paul

powers · Post by **powers** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 23:47

Well, I'm flattered that I'm on the receiving end of the questions. For the last year and a half I've been on the asking side. I'll be glad to give you any help I can.
I don't have a materials list for wings. The ceconite manual has a list of fabric materials needed for the recover. If you need the wing drawings I can email them to you. Screws will have to be used on the wings. I don't think the aeroncas were approved for stitching. Rivets can be used but you must use the thicker ribs. And it can get very expensive to upgrade to thicker ribs if you don't need them.

Post by **joea** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 00:03

Paul,

Rib stitching is not legal for the Aeronca series. If you are using Citabria ribs then you might, and I say might, get approval for using pop rivets but its probably will not be easy to get.

These ribs were not designed for rib stitching and I have heard of several cases where an Aeronca was done in this manner and the stitching came loose in flight, and the pilots were lucky to get the plane on the ground in one piece. Use PK screws as the factory did and it will be safe and legal.

Joe A

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 11:40

Would you believe that after 6-8 months I'm still waiting for approval to use the approved pop rivets in my ribs. I have all new .032 ribs. I'm not sure where the paperwork is hung up but the FAA guy said he lost it

. Guess I'm going to start leaning on them soon. If I had it to do over again, I'd just have my AI write it up 'in accordance with SL 85, etc. " and have him submit the 337 for recovering to OK. Sometimes common sense doesn't pay.

Mike Berg

Post by **joea** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:00

Mike,

Have you asked Gregg on the fAA email list? He might have some tips but personally I would have given up months ago...

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 16:59

Joe, it's actually gotten to the point where I'm not sure what's going on. It could be a conflict between my AI and the local FSDO guy. I've tended to stay out of it because I still have time and not at the point of needing to cover my wings yet, although everything else on the wings is pretty much done. Basically, the original problem with the feds was that the 7AC never used pop rivets and even though SL85 does specify pop rivets for fabric attachment, the 7AC's (or 7BCM in my case) are not listed exactly on the SL. Like I said (without going into specifics) I somehow get the feeling that a possible conflict might be the case and I'm kind of in the middle. I'm probably going to have to get involved to move things along.

These wings are rebuilt with all new ribs (.032), all new spars, new leading edges, etc. so I don't see where the problem is as it basically brings them up to better than 'new' standards. As the manufacturers are apparently now only making .032 ribs with 1/8" pop rivet holes for fabric attachment it just seems like common sense to me but then what do I know.........

. I could just go ahead and use PK screws I suppose but I'm a bit of a stubborn Norwegian

. Besides, I've already paid for the approved rivets.

If someone else has approved paperwork (337) for .032 ribs and pop rivets I'd like to see a copy. If not, when all is said and done, I'll hopefully have a copy to share with anyone else who runs into the same situation.

Mike Berg

Captgrumps · Post by **Captgrumps** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 20:42

The prewar Aeronca's used rib stitching with wood ribs. The PK's came on the post wars with metal ribs.

Doug

Paul Courchesne · Post by **Paul Courchesne** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 06:34

I have never seen any one talk about using the Air TecH process for painting the plane. ( 1-2 coats of primer & 1-2 coats of paint)
I used it on the fusalage when rebuilt and the wings were done with the old process. It is like spraying rubber on your plane.
When the hail damage occured the wings wee baddly beat up , the fusalage had one ding in it as well as the tail feathers.
After the wing repair I sprayed the wings with the air tech and it bonded well to the olded paint.

Just a question.
Paul

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 12:36

I think Air-Tec is somewhat like Superflite. which is a couple of coats of primer which already has the 'sun block' in it and cross coats of color. Superflite is quite heavy but sprays and covers well. The wings on my Champ had been covered earlier and painted with Imron which is harder than woodpecker lips so of course it cracked here and there and had a few 'ringworms' in the paint. As it still tested good (ceconite) I scuff sanded the bad spots, filled with Superflite primer and resanded and painted both sets of wings. That's been about 8 years ago and it's held up quite well, although it's in my plans to recover them if/when I finish my L16 project.

I still think if I was doing another covering project, I'd look at the Steward (water based) system. The auto industry is going with a water based paint and getting away from the petroleum based so I think it's only a matter of time.

Mike Berg

powers · Post by **powers** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:34

Finally, some flight pics!

Paul Agaliotis · Post by **Paul Agaliotis** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:22

Very nice pictures. You can enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Now you need to start on the next project. What is it going to be?
Paul

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