Late last summer, I was contacted by a guy in Utah, to come down and teach/help him cover his Javron Cub. Our schedules were both very busy, but finally in December we got together. I spent a week there, and wish I could've spent at least one more, but animals at home dictate that I'm around here to feed them, so I had to return. If he doesn't get it flying by this spring, I'll be headed back down as soon as time allows to help finish it.

Such a shame that he has such a paltry and sub-standard shop to work in...

Is that your re-covering equipment, or was all of that rotisserie and wing rotator stuff already there in this pitiful little workshop?

Really cool!

Very cool! I'm really looking forward to starting the fabric work on my project. Do you travel and teach fabric work regularly? I've been planning on taking a fabric workshop because I don't know anything.

Hope he can get it done pretty soon. Looks good!!!

hardtailjohn wrote:Late last summer, I was contacted by a guy in Utah, to come down and teach/help him cover his Javron Cub. Our schedules were both very busy, but finally in December we got together. I spent a week there, and wish I could've spent at least one more, but animals at home dictate that I'm around here to feed them, so I had to return. If he doesn't get it flying by this spring, I'll be headed back down as soon as time allows to help finish it.

What is that perforated rail for? cargo tie down??

Nice John! Looking forward to hopefully doing the same with you.

Bill, it was a very nice shop to work in! Plenty of room and nice and warm with the wood stove....only thing it lacked was tunes and a coffee pot! The rotisseries were his. I really liked the one for the fuselage, as you could not only roll it, but raise and lower each end independently with the winches!! That really spoiled me!!!

Whee.... I used to teach fabric a lot...but anymore, I'm not as busy as I'd like to be. I'm still available to travel and teach on a limited basis, and also available to host here with your project....use my shop, paint booth etc.

Sidewinder, that perforated rail is the baggage floor side rail. It's drilled for weight savings. Everything about this thing is built with lightweight in mind....he's gonna have a good performer!

ZZZ....I'm looking forward to that too!!

I've got a few more pics to put up and will try to get to that today or maybe tonight.
Thanks for the compliments!!
John

Ok...more than a day or so, but I've got a few minutes so figured I'd post a few more.

One of the nicest things about Stewarts System is the glue! You have time to work it, unlike the MEK based glues used in other systems, and it also is much much stronger. The added time is really nice when you're doing the window channels and edges! You also have a built in "tack" system as the adhesive is brushed on and let tack up before you mess with putting fabric on....really handy!

You're never going to have a problem with fabric separation on these window channels!

























And in continuing with the lightweight build...here's his prop that arrived while I was there.....NICE!

A little PS on my posts above....
I've been covering airplanes for over 30 years. A few years ago, one of my students in a covering class, suggested using a "ski wax" iron to me, when I was explaining the importance of close tolerance temperatures for fabric shrinking. I thought about it, but just couldn't pull the trigger on buying one of the $70+ irons that I kept seeing, as my old "Black and Decker Classic" was doing an ok job....or so I thought. When I was talking to the owner of this airplane, I was telling him about the ski wax irons, so he went out and bought a cheapie. It is AWESOME!! When you set it to 350* it's THERE!!! It's not wandering from 340 to 355 or anything...it's within just a couple degrees of what you have it calibrated to!! I'm totally impressed and am buying one for myself!! The "classic" style irons still have a place, and that's getting into a tight corner with a metal panel behind, as your small detail irons just don't have enough "punch" to carry the heat to that spot...but I'm not wasting any time shrinking with them other than that. The ski wax irons are light, have a great sole, are very precise, and worth every penny!!
John

What ski iron are you using?

Thanks for that on the ski iron John, I was wondering if there was enough mass in that iron to hold temp but it sounds like you're happy. I use a 1950's vintage GE iron because of the large mass to hold temp but always looking for ideas. I'm a big groupie for Stewart's also.

whee wrote:Very cool! I'm really looking forward to starting the fabric work on my project. Do you travel and teach fabric work regularly? I've been planning on taking a fabric workshop because I don't know anything.

Joel Milloway in Blackfoot, right down the road from you, is a world class fabric guy FWIW. Composites guru also. When you see some of his finished projects, you'll know what I mean. If nothing else, once you make his acquaintance, stopping by for a quick visit every couple weeks like I do, is always entertaining and educational.

I noticed the area left uncovered by the tail spring, I did a mod on my bird some time back, now that crucial (and abused ) area is open like that, no more little inspection hole, but wide open, makes it real easy to keep an eye on things back there.

Yeah, working in Utah odds are you better bring your own coffee pot, a little local humor That project looks like what I'd do if I ever want to feed a Lycoming, if there is any chance I could fly in and eyeball this project John, PM me.

I've thought about talking to Joel but both times I have stopped by in the past he was quite busy. I also assumed most of his experience is with superflight, or whatever system Rans uses. I'm going to use Stewart's.

Tom wrote:What ski iron are you using?

That looks like it might be a Skigo iron. Toko and Swix are two other good manufacturers. I have a Toko (for ski tuning). All of them come in basic, fancy and really fancy.
-DP

Thanks, I've been looking at something better than what we are using now. Something that holds heat good.