Skalywag wrote:CrzyIvan, in response to ur question:

"George Mandes doesn't normally drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis".

I believe that. He and Charlie seem like cool people. I would love to meet them!

I had to chuckle the other day when Rob posted that he was 99% finished stripping paint, but what he really meant was 99% of the fuselage stripped. Stripping the wings has to be the absolute worst part of the ordeal, and that's what I have been up too the past two weeks. Ugh.....

Well, I am 99% done with stripping, and in the spirit of never ever getting the Skywagon flying again, we went ahead and pulled the flaps and ailerons. It's gonna be sooo much easier to strip the back side of the parts. Also a great time to replace the flap rollers.

I have made a decision on the final paint job. Wings will be polished, with painted flaps, ailerons, WingX and Tips.

Back in the 80's, someone installed an Owl Cuff. Of course like everything else, I couldn't leave it alone, and it was pulled over the weekend. Remarkably, as reported by Willie, the Owl came off super easy with no drama. Should be pretty easy as the Sportsman has a bit more material and will bury all the old Owl rivet holes. Looking forward to the install!

Man and I thought polishing the tanks on my semi was a bad job...

So much for holding off on the wings. Ha. Looks good. Did you weigh the plane before you started all of this? I would like to know what it weighed, (actual) before and after.


Tom

Looking good as always Greg. I'm stuck in Little Rock for 2 weeks so no working on the 170 for me How in the hell is your hangar so clean? Mine looks like a bomb exploded....

Stripping the wing is the worst? Great news Rob!

dudestickle wrote:Stripping the wing is the worst? Great news Rob!

Good thing I know someone that can help! There's always beer in the fridge too

I'll be eager to see your paint scheme executed on the wings. I think that's going to look really good.

Tom wrote:Did you weigh the plane before you started all of this? I would like to know what it weighed, (actual) before and after.

But of course! What self respecting OCD lunatic would not weigh his buggy before a project like this.

It was really important to get a benchmark prior to starting all this madness. Shortly after flying it back from CA I got it up on the scales. She was actually 81lbs heavier than the 30 year paper WB (no surprise.)

The one thing I did before weighing her was install the baby bush and 8.5x10s. I flew it a bit that way before I started the tear down and in that config she was 2303 (incl 79gal fuel and full oil.)

So the real question will be what will the magic number be as there was a lot of shedding that went on. 20-30lbs in battery, 30lbs in avionics, 55lbs of interior, 35lbs in back seats, 10-25lbs of paint, etc etc etc... I guess in the end it really wont matter a hill of beans, but If I can keep her under 1700lbs with bush tires I will be tickled.



(Edited 5/28/14 to fix some math errors)

bigrenna wrote:

Tom wrote:Did you weigh the plane before you started all of this? I would like to know what it weighed, (actual) before and after.

But of course! What self respecting OCD lunatic would not weigh his buggy before a project like this.

It was really important to get a benchmark prior to starting all this madness. Shortly after flying it back from CA I got it up on the scales. She was actually 81lbs heavier than the 30 year paper WB (no surprise.) With 600x6s on her she was 1772lbs with just useable fuel and full oil.

I flew it a bit with 8.5x10s and the baby bush and in that config she was 2303 (incl 84gal fuel and full oil.) She has 79 gal of usable which gave an empty weight of 1829lbs.

So the real question will be what will the magic number be as there was a lot of shedding that went on. 20-30lbs in battery, 30lbs in avionics, 55lbs of interior, 35lbs in back seats, 10-25lbs of paint, etc etc etc... I guess in the end it really wont matter a hill of beans, but If I can keep her under 1700lbs with bush tires I will be tickled.

Bigrenna,

If you manage to hit that number, I'm tearing mine down next winter.

It is probably discussed in this thread somewhere, but what engine setup are you running?

Stock 470. I'm pretty sure I'm below 1700. I was anal about weighing each and every single bit of dirt that came out of the aircraft and on my spreadsheet its a pretty big number that was removed. I'm keeping my mouth shut in case Im gonna be full of crap, but I have my fingers crossed. I do still have weight to go back on, WingX + Sportsman, so who really knows...

Also there are still places to trim and cut. Light weight starter will get me a few more and if I slip and fall in the bathtub and hit my head, I will go with an MT prop an Ti gear and drop another 50. (buying scratch tickets)

bigrenna wrote:...if I slip and fall in the bathtub and hit my head, I will go with an MT prop an Ti gear and drop another 50. (buying scratch tickets)

Do it! The Ti folks will take your old gear in partial trade, and John from Flight Resource is on this site and I've found him to be really nice to deal with.
-DP

Paint the underside of the wings. Polish the top. Just a thought.

Mister701 wrote:Paint the underside of the wings. Polish the top. Just a thought.

Not sure I want to try and paint em now... To paint the wings properly (In my mind) I would want to pull them off the A/C. I may do that when I do the bladders and replace cables next winter. If I paint the wings, it will be top/bottom together w/ a white stripe out on the outboard ends. Since the flaps/ailerons have to be painted off the A/C regardless, this is why I am shooting them red now. Steps forward w/no steps back.

Re-thinking strippers...

I have tried all kinds of product searching for the best (easiest) way to strip. Now that its almost completely over it really doesn't matter, but I had been struggling with one last problem.

It seems that the paint used on my flaps and ailerons was a much different paint than on the rest of the airplane. No matter what product I used, nothing would work. I was about to sand and soda blast them but thought I would revisit one product I thought was junk.

There is a stripper by Solvent Kleen called D-Zolve http://solventkleene.com/pcstrip.htm that I had tried early on. The company is right here in MA so I drove over to their warehouse and bought a 5 gal bucket. It was about $250 and the rep raved up and down that it was the bomb diggity etc... With enthusiasm, I gave it a try on a couple of test samples by brushing it on. 24hrs later, no joy. I called em up to complain and got no sympathy. In truth, I didnt follow their instructions completely. 1) I didnt shoot the stuff on with a gun, and 2) my shop was not near the 80+ degrees or so they wanted me to apply in.

I tried another couple of small tests with the same luck, and came to the conclusion that it would have been just as good to use oatmeal. Another complaint I had was that even though it was supposed to be "environmentally friendly," the crap stunk so bad It was overwhelming, and hung around for a week.

Fast forward to the other day when I was scratching my head RE: the super-paint on the flaps/ailerons. I thought what the heck... I'll give the D-Zolve one more try and did a small test. This time I wrapped it in poly and left it for 36 hrs.

To my surprise, when I came back and checked, it had removed all the paint. Way cool...

So this AM I brought both flaps and ailerons into the back of my office, cranked up the heat and went to town painting the stuff on. I wrapped them in plastic and am now letting them sit. Hopefully by Friday they will be stripped.

Downside: I used way more than I probably needed by brushing it on. Its pretty thick so difficult to get a nice even (thin) coat on by hand. Also, my landlord just came down and complained... (The stink has moved thru the industrial park.)

Net net: Looks like this might be the best solution for stripping (if:) you have an unattached hanger with a floor drain, ability to heat it up, have water in the hanger, and can spray the stripper on w/out getting it everywhere.

bigrenna wrote:

Mister701 wrote:Paint the underside of the wings. Polish the top. Just a thought.

Not sure I want to try and paint em now... To paint the wings properly (In my mind) I would want to pull them off the A/C. I may do that when I do the bladders and replace cables next winter. If I paint the wings, it will be top/bottom together w/ a white stripe out on the outboard ends. Since the flaps/ailerons have to be painted off the A/C regardless, this is why I am shooting them red now. Steps forward w/no steps back.

My reason for suggesting that approach is that it's tough to keep the undersides of things polished. My poor little old arms get tired pushing up on the polisher. Especially with cow shit in the equation.

Well, after some odd 200 hours of labor, I can say the nightmare is over and the stripping is finished. After trying several brands and countless of hours I think I can say the best of all is the aforementioned D-Zolve.

As I posted above, I had thought the D-Zolve was junk, but on the home stretch we used it on some (what I thought) impossible to strip paint. After wrapping it in plastic and leaving it for three days, the paint just sloughed off.

Here's the rub... The stuff is the stinkiest of any chemical I have ever used. Not only does it smell, but it lingers and lingers and lingers. Even just having the bucket open to the air causes your friends and family to run for the hills. If you have a heated hanger, with a floor drain, go for it. If you share a hanger or have other units attached to yours... Forget it! Of course if you can spray the stuff outside and then try to wrap it somehow, this might work really well. The key is TIME. You must let it sit for 24-48 hrs to really work. But I warn you... Stink stink stink.

For me, my stripping days are OVER. I dont like to say never... but Im pretty sure I will never strip another airplane. Im super glad I did it, but once is enough for me~

bigrenna wrote:Well, after some odd 200 hours of labor, I can say the nightmare is over and I am finished stripping. After trying several brands and countless of hours I think I can say the best of all is the aforementioned D-Zolve. .....

Just wondering, does this stuff harm the metal at all?

Originally the Sportsman cuff was purchased for the C170, but once it was decided what was really needed was a C180, the cuff was put to the side until there was a Skywagon to install it on...

Fortunately the two aircraft have basically the same wing (the cuff is the same,) and after two years of waiting, its finally time to get the cuff installed.

The old Owl cuff has been nixed, and the Sportsman install has begun. First step, cutting the templates out. Spray glue the paper on the Masonite cover (of the shipping box) and then cut em out with a jigsaw.

denalipilot wrote:

bigrenna wrote:...if I slip and fall in the bathtub and hit my head, I will go with an MT prop an Ti gear and drop another 50. (buying scratch tickets)

Do it! The Ti folks will take your old gear in partial trade, and John from Flight Resource is on this site and I've found him to be really nice to deal with.
-DP

Is the Titanium Gear even available? If so, where can you buy a set?