Tadpole wrote:... Not a whole lot, but I still intend to get a nice fresh air breathing system...

If you pass through AZ before you roll on this, or if Gary swings through (thought I heard he might be?) you are welcome to use my Hobby air turbine and mask. It's full face and works well... I have done a couple planes with it, and a plane a couple times

Your choice on finishes is sound... nothing worse than an airplane being half done in one finish, and half done in several others...
My personal choices for finishes would go as follows:

any of the 'dopes' for a restoration or warbird project... Something just doesn't look right about a super high gloss L-4 ... Deep sheen, and ultra repairable, that's dope...

Stewarts for anything you want to really fly... this stuff is as flexible as you will ever get. You can cut out an inspection ring from my cub and crumple it in your hand, and it unrolls with not a wrinkle.... also very easy to repair, but not quite as easy to hide a repair as dopes... Extremely easy to use *if you follow instructions* and very eco friendly. I covered an entire set of cub wings, control surfaces, and tail feathers in my living room...

Air tech, if you absolutely have to win the 'show and shine'.... It is without question the easiest system to get a show winning gloss with. It also cracks like a fresh Lays potatoes chip, and if you do not get your prep 100% right in just one tiny spot that finish will come off the primer in sheets. It is harder to repair, and unless you paint up to a break in the finish, you are not going to hide any repairs...
Based on the ways I use my airplanes, I will not likely ever use this system again, but I do see it's merits for someone who wants a show stopper...

Take care, opinionated Rob...

Take care, Rob

Spray paint can in oven explodes, rockets into Portland attic.
http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Spray-pai ... 05299.html

TP don't do this

The stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me.

RB

Ya can't fix stupid Rob.....
Still need to fly down and see your project TP...Happy Turkey Day!

hicountry wrote:Ya can't fix stupid Rob.....
Still need to fly down and see your project TP...Happy Turkey Day!

Its not going anywhere except into two locations while I figure out this painting part. Trying to find other options besides my garage right now.

Don't know how much luck you'd have finding one, but maybe you could rent a heated self-storage unit for a month or two?

Well the garage is definately out. Not going to do it in there. Got my first taste of those chemicals today and I'm not willing to risk my daughter on any of those getting into the house. Time to find an alternative. I guess worst case scenario is I get the stuff covered and wait until it warms up to paint them in a temp booth in the unheated hangar they're in right now.

Tadpole wrote:Well the garage is definately out. Not going to do it in there. Got my first taste of those chemicals today and I'm not willing to risk my daughter on any of those getting into the house. Time to find an alternative. I guess worst case scenario is I get the stuff covered and wait until it warms up to paint them in a temp booth in the unheated hangar they're in right now.

Heck with the kid. You can make more. And it fun too. Got to get the plane flying.

I hope you know I am kidding. Except for the making kids is fun part.

Not a huge update, but a problem has been resolved. Turns out another friend has a hangar at the airport my project is at that has a heated and ventilated paint booth in it. So I'll be able to get the stuff covered and painted this winter. Only other thing I've done is finish repairing the left aileron.

So Wednesday I got the wings moved to the heated / ventilated paint booth...



Here's how I avoid snorting too much MEK and the cyanides in my paints...

Tadpole, That reminds me of you launching me during Alarm Red, MOPP 4! At least in Alaska the chem gear kept us warm. Can't wait to see the plane finished. Now stand back, I'm pulling the JFS! Happy New Year!

jugheadF15 wrote:Tadpole, That reminds me of you launching me during Alarm Red, MOPP 4! At least in Alaska the chem gear kept us warm. Can't wait to see the plane finished. Now stand back, I'm pulling the JFS! Happy New Year!

Wow that's been awhile! Ya the best part of the gear was the warmth it provided, it sure sucked changing fuel controls with that crap on!

RobBurson wrote:Spray paint can in oven explodes, rockets into Portland attic....The stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me. RB

Hey, us stupid people resent that remark! I have to admit to putting a rattlecan & the part to be painted in a cardboard box, & using a small space heater to warm them up. It's about the only way to get any painting done (with decent results) in an unheated hangar in the winter. Not like it's "20 minutes at 350 degrees" though.
A friend of mine building a Pacer has a little toaster oven in his hangar & uses it to powder-coat small parts. Works great.

RobBurson wrote:Spray paint can in oven explodes, rockets into Portland attic.
The stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me.

Uhhh. I've done that.

BUT! I only put the oven on 200 F, and would pull the can out and shake it every 1 minute, just trying to get the paint to a temperature where adhesion was possible. Cold can fresh from the garage doesn't aerate, or stick to anything very well.

For PolyFiber PolyTone I stick it in the refrigerator overnight.....cold -Tone makes the paint dry slower and the finish is a bit shinier than warm -Tone.

Brian.

Tadpole- I am very inspired by your project!

Curious if you are just going for it or did you have some experience prior. Did you build a lot of models as a kid? Seems like you were in the military (thank you for your service). Curious if thats where you gained your experience at building an airplane or again are you learning as you go? (silly question) I am sure you are learning as you go but, its no easy project. Would love to build a kit with my pops at some point.

Best of luck!

Kevin

aktahoe1 wrote:Tadpole- I am very inspired by your project!

Curious if you are just going for it or did you have some experience prior. Did you build a lot of models as a kid? Seems like you were in the military (thank you for your service). Curious if thats where you gained your experience at building an airplane or again are you learning as you go? (silly question) I am sure you are learning as you go but, its no easy project. Would love to build a kit with my pops at some point.

Best of luck!

Kevin

Hey Kevin. For this I'm really just learning as I go. My experience in maintenance is military on turbines. I have some GA experience over the years, but again, mostly on turbines. I've never done tube and fabric, or any metal work...which is 99% of this project. I should have my A&P next month. I've had the FAA authorizations for a decade, but just put it off for whatever reason. Now that I'm retiring from the military in a couple months...and having my own plane..I figured I better get it!

I have a friend who's an IA and has lots of experience restoring classics. He's done a few Stinsons and owned one once. So he's been giving me direction, but making me do everything.

I see its been awhile since I posted an update. We last left off with me having moved the wings into the heated paint booth so I could begin prepping the left wing for covering, you can see a photo above of the beginning of this stage.

So after two weekends I've made some decent progress. I think 4 days of work total, but not full days.

I now have the topside fabric for the left wing pretty much installed. The leading edge is cemented down and trimmed, including around the light assembly and the leading edge slot towards the wingtip. Not the best photo, but you get the idea...


I also got the trailing edge cemented down on the topside and heat formed to go around the bend onto the bottom side. I started heat forming the butt rib enough to get good spots to make the openings for cables and attach points as well.


Lastly I got the wing tip heat formed around the top side of the radius.


All in all, not too bad for a guy who's never done this. I've learned alot. Even made some mistakes that luckily weren't that big of a deal. This is my last week on military duty, so I'm going to have much more time to go work on the plane. The next things on the task list are to finish the butt rib forming and cementing and to open up the fuel tank area and get that all cemented down onto the spars per the AD...then finally flip the wing to finish up the trailing edge and wing tip and I can start on the bottom piece of fabric.

Well I'm no longer working so I've been able to start cracking on the project a bit more often. Today was 3rd day in a row out there. Looks like I'll have to skip tomorrow due to some family things.

Anyway, I realized that before I cover the bottom side of the wing I need to get the fuel tank straps installed, or else I won't be able to get to the nuts and bolts! That meant I needed to prep and prime them, and since I was doing that, might as well prep and prime the fuel tank and nose bowl. I wanted to do to the lower cowling as well, but it needs much more work and I want to get the wings done. (Might be looking for a ready to go used cowling though rather than do all the repairs to the one I have, we'll see).

Yesterday was spent MEKing all the 1part primer off of the nose bowl and getting it ready, I had the tank and straps ready two days ago. I also pulled out an old can of PolyTone that is past its shelf life but decided to use it for practicing with the spray equipment as I've never done any spraying. Lots of knobs on those guns I needed to figure out.

Today I went and prepped the primer, guessing how much I would need...ended up with too much made. I think I did alright for my first time. The tank and straps look real nice, but I got some runs on the nosebowl where it curves from the face to the top and bottom. That will take more practice, I think I already know a few things I could have done to make it better. At least its primer that I will be sanding some anyway before color coating it. I guess the real result will be how they look in a few days. I hope they cure okay. Here's pics...

Looks great TP, great progress! Have you thought about splitting the nosebowl while you've got everything apart? Makes it easy to pull the whole cowl without having to pull the prop.

Vick wrote:Looks great TP, great progress! Have you thought about splitting the nosebowl while you've got everything apart? Makes it easy to pull the whole cowl without having to pull the prop.

I have, but I'll do that later to the 2nd nosebowl I have.