pilotbum

I had a feeling that's what it was for, I just couldn't see where it was installed.

Leroy Gardner

I'm at that point where I should start thinking about the covering and I remembered I had this roll of fabric covering that has heat activated adhesive on it and is 4' wide and at least 30' long. It does not have the protector film on the back like Solartex. One response on Q & A was it might be Super Coverite which I have no clue of. From my description can any of you tell me what I might have and how to verify it. It is natural in color like Solartex.

I might as well ask the rest of it, assuming it is a quality iron on fabric from Century 21 would it be suitable for this cub of mine. I did see a Balsa 1/4 scale covered with it, it had set around for a few months to a year and it was tight on the frame meaning I never seen any lose seams or sagging covering. It was also mentioned that it may be a directional fabric, what ever that is.

I still have options on two other products but having this would save a lot of money so what say you who may know. Thanks in advance, "Oh" , no, he said she said or I never used it but he said doesn't cut it, users only if there are any that can ID it and has used it.

Leroy

cardinalflyer

My Feedback: (11)

Leroy, from the description it sounds like a roll of Super Coverite. I have used it on several model aircraft and have found it to be a fine product. The last model I used it on was a Staudacker that I finished in 2000. It was painted in single stage auto paint and looks as good as when it was finished. It remains taut with no lifting or wrinkles. I would use it again. Hope this helps.

Bob Howard

My Feedback: (2)

That sounds like the roll of Super Coverite that I have. I covered a 1/4 Sig cub with it many years ago and then sold it before painting, The guy that I sold it to ask me the other day if I would finish it for him. When I looked at it it looked just like it did when I covered it. Wish it was still available.

John_M_

I understood that the super coverite was a well liked covering, especially for the painters out there... I read many posts of people stating how much they like the super coverite over the 21st century fabric... the 21st century fabric (pre-painted) supposedly replace it... I covered my cub originally in the 21st century fabric and had no issues with the application, just 15 years later the per-painted finish started to break down, to no fault but my own.

I think you'll be ok with the super coverite Leroy... just be aware of its age... if its quite old, the heat activated glue may not be as effective as it would if it was a fresh roll... if you can't determine the age, then go with the natural solartex, or you may want to try the stits system; Ace is quite fond of it.


John M,

John_M_

I will add that all fabrics are directional... the term "bias" means the fabric weave has been cut so the weave is not perpendicular to 90 degrees, but at an angle.... all fabrics come off the roll with the weave perpendicular, so as long as you keep that in mind, you can't easily go on the "bias"... you have to make an effort to cut your pieces at an angel to be on the bias.

In some cases you can use the bias of the fabric to aid going around some curves.... as an example, I cut 3/8" inch wide strips of the 21 century fabric on the bias at 45 degrees... I used it to cover the windshield, to simulate the windshield frame... it worked quite well... but using the fabric straight off the roll you won't have any issues covering the wing tips or other curved areas.

When you look at the weave, you can tell if its straight, or at an angle (on the bias)




John M,

rt3232

My Feedback: (6)

Leroy I have used super coverite in the past, on 1/4 sig Cub even after it sat exposed in the shop and it worked fine, I just made sure I did not use about 2inches along the edges.

I would also suggest making a test sample first on a frame of some sort.

Cheers Bob T

cardinalflyer

My Feedback: (11)

I should have added that the Super Coverite is white.

RDJeff

My Feedback: (11)

On the contrary, most of Alaska is flat as pancake! The flat parts are all swamp-ish though, so are hard to get to. Most of the off-airport flying involves landing on gravel bars on the rivers, or float ops. On the higher hills you can land if it isn't too rocky.


I like your door latch idea! I've kind of parked my Cub for a while, been building a couple of other planes, waiting for some scale instruments and controls to be available.

Leroy Gardner

Jeff your right, I never even thought about that part of Alaska when I said that. All the stories I know of and have read are about the mountains and desolate islands, exceptions are polar bear country. At any rate there is plenty of hazardous flying up your way.

Leroy

geoardsog5

My Feedback: (31)

Leroy, I've got a roll of Coverite - had it a long time. I cut pinked tapes, out of it. It's still good. John R.

Leroy Gardner

John R I bought the Simplicity rotary cutting machine, with the small wave cutter I get pretty nice pinking tapes, I also make my own stitch strips. I have a mock up to make, two of them actually, fuse section and a wing section to test this Super Coverite on so I can get the adhesion and shrink temps, know one seams to remember the first thing about it except it was a good covering. Our closest HS owner said the adhesive was a little week and they didn't have Stix-it at the time, otherwise is a good covering.

Leroy

pilotbum

how do you make your own stitch strips?

Leroy Gardner

Hey pilotbum, they really are not that hard to make, as far as scale goes I found different spacings on different planes. Take a super cub for instance, stitches in the prop wash area of wing are around 2" while the stitches beyond that are closer to 3" while others are almost random. My 1/4 scale Spacewalker had 1/2" spacing and looked good.

A composit / nylon bread or cutting board with a series of small nails at what ever the spacing, 1/2" to 5/8 for 1/4 scale and 3/4" for 1/3rd scale will look good. String your thread, I used some old heavy duty coat thread, enough to cover the span needed and keep it pushed down to the board, tie off. I used Solartex the right length and width and ironed it on to the threads at around 110 deg. centigrade, it sticks to the thread but not the board. I then cut them 1/8" wide with a rotary cutter, that's 1/4 scale then iron them on using a standard covering iron, there is a technique to get it right that applies to the pinked tape overlay as well. A little practice always helps to get the feel of it.

Leroy

Leroy Gardner

I had posted pictures of the fuel tanks and engine controls in their early stages, I have that done now and can do the hood and wrap most of the front end up. There is a metal skin that wraps the forward fuselage and I have a lot of litho plate so may try that out for fit and looks, I can always do the dummy wrap using a wing wrap for metal edging, I will play with that and see what comes out of it..

I decided to do the fuel fill just ahead of the center wind screen, it plumbed up nicely there, final connections to engine will be done at final assembly, vent line will exit fire wall on left side and connect to a tube out the front bottom of fire wall.Upper shelf (removable also) contains the throttle servo, engine kill and ignition module, choke is on the instrument panel. It's nice and tidy and upper shelf can be removed without bothering the fuel system, wires are hidden in side walls to radio and battery,all this will become part of the engine run stand and well tested prior to final assembly. It's on to wing servos and some interior work, plenty yet to do. stuff.

Leroy

pilotbum

Thanks. Just to clarify, you have the strip you made with the rib stitching applied to the surface then apply the pinking over that--so there is two layers on top of the covered surface, the stitched piece and the pinking. Did I get that right or do you combine both parts into one application so the pinking has the stitching threads under it?

pilotbum

Brave man using the Dubro filler (I think that's what I see). I gave up on those years ago when it seemed eventually they all ended up sucking air resulting in a poor running engine (if it kept running). That's my experience anyway--perhaps it was operator error.

I can't remember, what muffler did you end up going with? I remember the discussion way back in the thread but don't remember the decision and can't find that thread.

rt3232

My Feedback: (6)

Just a comment with proper maintenance in 20 + years I have never had one go bad, and I have them all but one of my birds.

Cheers Bob T

pilotbum

Like I said, perhaps operator error. I think in the end I just found the fuel dots to be more fool proof--less to go wrong with them. I know some swear by the dubro fillers. They've made me swear, but in a different way!

Leroy Gardner

That is correct, it looks just like the real thing, by the way the covering is only .002" thick.

Leroy Gardner

Bob /pilotbum let the argument begin. I have not used them myself so I like knowing what I use is not a lemon and that this plane will soar like an eagle with a dead stick. Some of this stuff has been around for years and it's the only way many of us have of knowing it must be ok or it wouldn't still be on the market. Any other opinions out there, I'm sure others would like to know also. It fits real nice but what matters most is it reliable.

There is the Sullivan filler that works the same way except you pull it # S751, so who knows something about these products (gas fuel fillers) I'll hold off on doing the upper forward deck cover and I will be testing this DuBro valve when I run this engine, its the little red one in the picture.

Leroy

pilotbum

I'm not going to say anyone else is wrong and I'm right but rather share my experiences. Both my father an I have shared the same experiences and have traced them back to that valve. The valve relies on the internal spring to re-seat the plug in the o-ring on top. After a while we experienced engine problems that resembled air in the fuel lines. On multiple aircraft we tried removing that valve from the loop and presto, problem solved. Sometimes we would inspect the valve after fueling/de-fueling to make sure it appeared to have re-seated correctly but as you know, air can find holes your eyeball cannot see--especially in a negative pressure situation where the pump is on the carb and not in the fuel tank (which would create a positive pressure in the fuel line). Since then we've removed all of those valves from all of our planes and that problem has never shown it's ugly face again. Our remedy has been to install a fuel dot--we've never had those leak since they are nothing other than a plug. You can either put one on a T between the carb and clunk or what has worked well for us--install a second clunk strictly for fuel/de-fueling. We never liked the idea of potentially pumping gas into the carb when fueling or putting the negative pressure of the de-fueling on the carb; I'm not sure it hurts anything, we just did it differently. So we have a line installed specifically for fueling and de-fueling that has it's own clunk so the de-fueling can be completed successfully. Since each of us have gone to this arrangement (the better part of the last 20 years) we've never had any problems and second clunk has never been a problem either.

That's my/our experience. We've known others that have had the same experience with the dubro valves. I've personally seen less of them over the years and just assumed it was for the same reason. And just like Bob there are probably those who have had great luck and success with them. Just sharing what has happened and worked for us...

And in case anyone is about to ask--yes, we always used the correct valve for gasoline vs glow fuel.

Now I'm curious to hear other experiences.

John_M_

pilotbum, Ive also used those Dubro kwik fill fuelers, as well as the ones from "great planes"... I never had an issues with either... one thing to take note of... the re-fueler barb, if it has a sharp edge to it, can nik the O-ring seal and cause a bad seal on the pintel valve... I took some 600 wet n' dry and polished away any sharp edges before I put it to use.


***EDIT***

Here's a couple of shots I dug out




John M,

bigbird3

Used many of the dubro fuel fillers like the one you have Leroy, they all eventually have stuck in the open position while fueling. Also, they will leak or allow the fuel to saturate the wood where you mount them. Never mount one in wood! You will get fuel on the wood. The fuel dot is the best. Leave enough line where you can pull it clear of the fuse over the ground and then put it back. You have it in the scale tank area, drill it and put the bobber gage in it and they will never know it till you pull it out. That is what I did on the AMR cub I built for my friend.
Nice job so far buddy.
bird.

John_M_

Thats interesting bird, the one that was originally in my sig 1/4 cub was 4 years old with no problems... don't get me wrong, it was a concern but I never experienced any leakage, I always checked to make sure the pintel was seated, and never an issue in those 4 years... even after I converted the 130 to CDI, I still ran it on Glow fuel and used the same fueler

The Fuel valve you see in the above image, was the Great Planes "Easy Fill" valve.


Anyways I wouldn't want to steer Leroy wrong, so by all means thoroughly test it, or go with the fuel dot.


***EDIT***

This is the fuel dot I have now, made from a PL-259 coax connector.. but its the traditional J3 nose tank configuration, the super cub had wing tanks, but you could discreetly hide the fuel dot within the cowl area.




***EDIT***EDIT***

Just out of curiosity I dug out the original GP Easy Fill valve I had... its well over 15 years old and the seal is still intact... it seals, and holds a vacuum when both lines are plugged.... much greater vacuum than would be developed while the engine is running, or even with an exhaust pressure fitting back to the tank.




John M,