Well I bit the bullet and yanked my wings off today and pulled off the fabric. I'm glad I decided to go this route. Somewhere along the line somebody covered over another painted layer of fabric with an envelope. There was 3 layers of ceconite on there and it was VERY easy to pull off the ribs since it was only cemented. I'm ordering my materials on Monday for the recover and will be prepping till the materials get here. Here's a couple shots I took of the bare wings with my cell phone. I forgot my camera at home. There's a few small things that need cleaned up before the recover but overall they were in great shape underneath. For those wondering that's a J-3, Bellanca, and 140 in the hangar I'm working in.

Good for you! considering you have a fresh engine, this was really the right way to go. When you are done your entire bird will be essentially zero timed

I can't imagine what good someone thought they were doing covering over someone else s fabric? How did they get any piece of mind not looking over the underlying structures?

What system are you going to cover with?

What system????

Good choice. Now you will be able to trust those wings.

Whew. I know it hurts to cut into your precious bird... but it's for the best.

Did those wings feel a bit heavy?

These are the first set of bare wings I've handled so not sure if they are heavy in comparison to others or not. There are two aluminum spars in there the rest is hardwood and the tips are fiberglass. I've been busy the last few nights with my A&P cleaning them up and inspecting them really well. The main spars had mud dobber nests in them I rigged up a toilet brush on an aluminum pole and took care of that issue. There was some minor surface corrosion here and there but nothing a wire brush and some epoxy primer didn't take care of. I also ran some aircraft wire the full length of the wing in case I ever want to install wing tip strobes and replaced the pitot system tubing with some good stuff. Everything else appears to be in good shape. I got a recorded call from UPS last night and my Aircraft Spruce order with all my materials is supposed to be delivered today. Were going to finish the prep work on Sunday and hopefully start covering on Monday. Going with Ceconite 102 and Buytrate paint since that is what the rest of the plane was done in and it's what the A&P prefers working with.

You ran three wires to each wing tip, right?

Topic resurrection in the form of a question. I used the search function to no avail...
Suppose I purchase an ragwing with a paint scheme I am not 100% on. Do I have to completely recover the wings from the skeleton up, or its it at all possible to shoot another coat on top of them? My Poly-fiber manual is a few thousand miles away at the moment, and this was bugging me. Thanks.

It all depends on what they were covered with to start with. Some paints can be rejuvenated and then a new top coat sprayed on and others become brittle and there's really nothing you can do with it except sand it down and try to make it look decent again. Try to find out what system it was covered with and what kind of top coats it has on it. The guys over at Supercub.org were very helpful when I was trying to figure out what to do with mine.

The A&P that is helping me out closed down his shop except for just weekend stuff so my wing progress has been slow. It's amazing how much work it really turns into. I can't imagine covering a big airplane. Were going to have close to 100 hours into just my 12ft wing panels. We finished taping the second wing last night and with some luck will start spraying this weekend. I have a hangar out at the airport where the wings are now so I'm really chomping on the bit to get them done. The rest of the plane is ready is to fly as soon as I get the wings bolted on. I can't wait to get this bird airborne. She's been grounded since 1993... such a shame!