Chuck and Ryan's Build Tips

[ceslaw]

Covering Landing Gear

So how do you get a nice hole in the fabric for the plastic tube to fit through?

After approximating the location of the fabric, use a soldering iron to make about a 3/8 inch hole, slide the tube through, and then glue the fabric in place.

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When placing the patch, use a soldering iron to make a 3/8 inch hold and slide it in place. The iron ‘cauterizes’ the edge of the hole to prevent it from fraying. Much neater then using pinking shears.

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It is amazing how well the iron can make those wrinkles disappear.

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[ceslaw]

Status Report

As of May 15, everything is covered.

We started this project fourteen months ago in March, 2014. Approximately 575 hours have been invested, which does not include setup, research and collateral matters. (Those collateral matters would probably add at least another 100 hours.)

Time spent building the wings up to cover was around 150; the fuselage up to cover was around 150; and the balance was covering. Frankly covering took much longer than I was expecting.

The left wing which was first took 55 hours to cover. We thought the right would go much faster. Not so. It took 53 hours.

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[ceslaw]

Paint


Paint is well under way. Tail feathers are done, the fuselage has been coated with Poly Spray awaiting the final coat. The wings are next.

The biggest challenge? Just after painting began, a heat wave settled in with daily highs in the nineties and humidity to match. I will not spray the final color until the temperature is 70 degrees and the humidity drops to a similar range.

The Poly Fiber Brush, Spray and Tone are very forgiving. It is pretty cool to see a section of the plane go into the booth colored white with orange stripes and come out a nice even shade of silver.

There are differences between the Poly Fiber manual and the Cubcrafter’s technique. Big differences. I followed the Cubcrafter’s approach and am very pleased with the results so far.

So here is my tip for would be Cubcrafter painters: Call Mitch. Take notes. Follow his advice.

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[ceslaw]

Poly Brush Issue


After spraying Poly Brush on the right wing the surface was a bit rough and grainy. It was not bad, but not as smooth as expected.

The Poly Fiber manual says that Poly Brush cannot be sanded. I ignored that admonition and used some 400 grit sandpaper to very gently sand the surfaces. It worked very well knocking off that grainy layer and leaving it perfectly smooth.

Three fourths of a gallon of Poly Spray was used to cover the right wing.

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[ceslaw]

Bubbles

A previous post described a technique for applying the fabric in a way to assure it would be solidly adhered in the aileron valley without bubbles. That approach was used on the second wing. It was a few bubbles on the first wing discovered after the Poly Brush was applied that prompted that different approach.

So how were the bubbles in the first wing fixed?

1. They need to be identified. A bright light at an angle helps. We found several that warranted attention, each about a half inch by one to three inches long. Frankly I suspect that many would say this is a nonissue and just ignore it. One would not likely be able to see them when the plane is painted and the aileron is in place and functionally they should not cause a problem.

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2. The poly brush was rubbed away with Reducer

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3. A slit was made lengthwise with an Xacto knife.

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4 Poly Tack, diluted with MEK, was injected through the slit with a syringe. Why can’t one just inject the bubble without cutting a slit? Two reasons. First the glue would take forever to dry since it is essentially inside an enclosed cavity. Second the bubble is under some tension and there is no reasonable way to hold it tight to the surface until the glue dries. The bubble was rubbed out with some Poly Tack oozing from the slit confirming a good bond.


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5. A small patch was cut from light weight scrap fabric and placed over the slit with the Poly Brush.

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6. Poly Spray and then Poly Tone were applied in the usual manner. The repair is barely visible.

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[ceslaw]

Wings painted.



The wings are both painted; Nevada silver and white trim. With a little help from family and friends they were moved to the racks and the fuselage moved in to the paint booth. Hope to have the fuselage painted before the engine and avionics arrives in the next week.

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[Cubrath]

Way too much help, no fair!! Looks great Chuck!

[ceslaw]

Fuselage painted

The fuselage is the most noticed part of the plane, so it was done last in the hope that by the time we sprayed it we might know what we were doing. I am really pleased. Nice crisp line between the silver and white, even sheen on the silver, and the white has a good even gloss.

It took the duration of the Republican presidential debate plus two more hours to get all of the masking off. So nice to be rid of it after six months-time.

The engine and avionics will be here in the next few days. The timing could not be better.

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[Cubrath]

Very nice!

[ceslaw]

Fuselage rack

Long ago I posted plans for wing racks. A simple rack was also made to support the fuselage so it could be easily moved during construction.

A pair of inexpensive non swiveling castors support the front.

The location of the four holes is intended to make the four screws carry the weight of the fuselage, but just in case the fuselage comes in direct contact with the wood small sections of adhesive backed felt were added to potential contact points.

The front cross support was cut so that the boot cowl could be installed while the rack was in place.

A small block of wood was bolted to the rear of the fuselage to protect it when resting on the floor.

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