Fabric and Paint/Repaint

[jimknuck]

Can the paint on the fabric be recoated? I have Ceconite with probably Randolph coating. The brown is fading..can it be fixed? The fabric still test good.

[joea]

You would have to sand/scuff it to give the new paint something to stick to but it usually can be done.

[jc pacquin]

The answer is yes you can .....but....how good are YOU?! You need a watchmakers precision and best quality masking tape (green usually) and patience. Sand it carefully and mask it very carefully! Or....if you know a good body shop paint man, he'll do it on a calm sunny day at the airport in half the time it takes you. A buddy, who was one, put the stars and bars on my stearman QUICKLY with a small touch up spray gun and minimal covering. Knew his business. It came out great!JP

[jimknuck]

I custom paint Harleys, I just did not want a weird chemical reaction and end up having to receover

[jkvincent]

Be extremely careful sanding. If you go over a rivet head or the edge of a stringer or
anything directly behind the fabric if you don't use the lightest touch or the fewest passes
you will go through the fabric, ...don't ask me how I know.
Jim

[Paul Agaliotis]

Jim,
It's basically a laquer paint if it is a dope finish. If you handle it as that you should have no problem with re-painting. I like to use Enamel as the top coat.
Paul

[boris48]

Holy smokes, where have all the dope experts gone?? Here is my two cents. (background) I put new fabric on my chief in 1997. Last year I decided to give it a "freshening up"--(paint)no, dope..well you know what I mean. You don't need to sand anything unless you have very active cracks and that is a different subject. This is what I did and it turned out great. The guy I work with has been using ceconite and dope for over 40 years!! Just take off all the metal parts, wash the plane with a good neutral soap(get the grime off) and then we shot the airplane with a mix of randolf rejuvinator, clear dope and a LITTLE retarder. The idea here is to soften up the plastisizers in the dope..once it softens with the above mixture 2-3 days then you can shoot the color. I removed the wings in half a day to do a better and easier job. The whole thing took a week or so and am thrilled I did it that way. If you have time, of course you can take the metal home and prep and paint that too. Just remember that a good job depends on your prep..I don't know the exact "mix" but i can find out if you want..

[Paul Agaliotis]

The rejuvinator contains a very hot solvent and tends to damage the plasticizor in the dope. It looks good for a while but will start cracking rather quickly if left outside. The rejuvinator is best left for quick sales.
Paul

[MikeB]

We rejuvenated one of our Champs with doped fabric probably 15 years ago and seems to be OK. The fabric is probably 30 years old if I remember correctly. Of course it's pretty much always been hangared which certainly helps. In my limited experience it seems to me that regarding cracking a lot depends on the temperature the plane is exposed to. If it's extremely cold (think winter in Minnesota,Wisconsin, North Dakota, etc.) and it's been painted with an enamel or poly-urathane type paint even with a 'flex agent' and it get banged around a bit from being on skis or pushed in and out of the hangar cracking can occur. I proved that with Superflite inspection cutouts. In the summer you can bend them around 180 degrees, but in the winter the paint will crack. Granted in normal operation the fabric is not going to be bent 180 degrees but it will flutter, especially in the prop wash area. In places with warmer temperatures it's probably not a problem.

Not too sure about dope but poly fiber seems to be better in that regard.

MikeB

[boris48]

paul, I agree with the rejuvinator comment. That is why we used very little. Like I said, just enough to soften things up. I suppose you could use just clear dope--been done before... Boris

[shorty]

Just a good wash with soap, mask, and light scuff with red scotch brite pad.
You'll be good to go. Just a tad of retarder in your color coat will aid it's adhesion.