WacoNut

Bill,
I just happened to have a piece os 1/4" brass tube, I cut a piece about 6" long and ran the end of the tube into the band saw and cut teeth all around one end. Chucked it up in my hand drill and it worked perfect for drilling out the hinges. I will make some plugs out of 1/4 dowel and glue them in place and re-drill for the new hinges.
Thanks for the tip!!
Anthony

WacoNut

Working on a bunch of odds and ends on the Waco. I fitted the hood back on and drilled the forward screw pilot holes in the blocks that I had glue to the former. Installed the cabane wires to assure the new wood pieces cleared the hood and had to make some minor adjustments. Drilled the 80+ holes for mounting the turtledeck to the fuse. Did a final fitting of the rear fiberglass fairing and drilled the mounting holes. All the Robart Hinges have been removed.

I also marked the location of filler pieces I need to add where the cabane wires mount to the fuse for attaching the fabric. If you do not fill in around this area you will just have an oen hole in the fabric.

I need to get some opinions here. The covering is in really good shape on the rudder, stabs and one elevator. These surfaces have all the details from the last covering like stitching and tapes. I will be painting the plane with Klass Kote paint this time around and I am wondering if I can get away with giving those pieces a good sanding and spray a coat of white Klass Kote primer then a coat of white paint? I know there will be a slight weight penalty but not much.
Let me hear what you think.
Anthony

acerc

I would think there would be a difference in the finished texture. And you know as well as we do that you would not like that difference. Strip and recover so everything is uniform. IMHO anyways

WacoNut

Thanks for the reply Robert,
I will have to think it over. I am acutually going to do the details a little different this time as they were a little to pronounced last time for scale. I am going to apply the tapes and give the airframe a couple coats of Plolycrylic to help blend the tapes. The tapes should barely be visible even at 5 ft on the full scale. The 1st time I covered the plane I put the tapes on after the Polycrylic and they really stood out. Looked good but not scale.

My major concern is more about will the paint adhere over the latex. I will be applying Polycrylic over the new fabric which is water based so if I am going to have problems with the latex I would most likely have problems with the PolyC as well.
Later!!
Anthony

WacoNut

Now I get to take all the fiberglass parts back off of the fuse. They will not go back on until after covering. I am satisfied with the fit of everything so far.

I am attaching a few pics of how it is looking plus a couple closeup shots of the rudder covering showing the stitching and tape details.
Later!!
Anthony

WacoNut

The more I think about it no sense in only putting new covering on 80% of the plane. All the covering will be stripped and finished the same. Not time to take any shortcuts. This does mean I will have to order more rib stitching as I do not have enough for the tail surfaces.
Later!!
Anthony

acerc

I'm not saying a thing!!!!

WacoNut

You Don't Have Too

WacoNut

I ordered the fabric and dope, sent an email off to Gary @ Pink-It.net about the tapes. I had my old invoice from him so I sent that back stating I need a duplicate order. I will place the order with Gary as soon as I hear back.

Looking at the old invoice I used 324' of .66" rib tapes and 108' of 1.32" reinforcment tapes. Alot of freakin tapes!!!

I also sent an e-mail to Scale Rib Stitch up in Canada to make sure they are still selling rib stitching. Same there as soon as I hear back I will place the order.

VincentJ

Sorry for the late reponse, I'm glad you decided on stripping the tail. Will it be more work, you bet but in the long run you'll be glad you did it. I think this project will turn out even better the second time around! Keep it up... I too have just placed my order with Gary and rib stitching in Canada.They better still be in buisness...I already sent him money.

WacoNut

I am sure Gary is just don't know about Scale Rib Stitch.
Anthony

VincentJ

FYI- Just received an email from Ken at rib stitch in Canada, he is still in operation. He is awaiting my payment in the mail.

WacoNut

Which e-mail address did you use for him. I found 2 of them and I am not sure which is his current e-mail?
I am ordering stitching for the Waco and a 1/4 Cub for a buddy.
Anthony

WacoNut

I think I am finished with building on the Waco. Today I will be stripping the tail feathers and sanding the wings. I also need to plug all the holes from removing the Robart hinges. I see no issues in having the Waco ready for fabric next weekend. Let the fun begin

I do have enough fabric left over from other projects to cover some of the tail feathers. If I get ambitious during the week I may ge a jump start.
Later!!
Anthony

WacoNut

I heard back from Ken Kosomoto at Scale Rib Stitch and my order is in.
The tail feathers have been stripped and I am sanding on the wings. Not much to show.
Later!!
Anthony

smkrcflyer

I'm really interested in your covering and finishing process.

WacoNut

I will cover the covering and detailing process in detail. No Pun Intended.

I just finsihed the stripping of the tail feathers and removing the Robart Hinges. I need to make a bunch of plugs(around 30) and plug all the holes to be drilled for new hinges.

I need to get off my butt and order the Smoke System and some other odds and ends as I had scaveneged a few parts from the Waco like fuel dots, switches, batteries, servo extensions etc: At one point I didn't know if I would rebuild the Waco or not.
Later!!
Anthony

WacoNut

I didn't get as much done yesterday as I wanted, wound up watching football.
Today I did get all the plugs made and installed to fill the holes from the Robart Hinges. These were spoxied in with a little micro-balloons added in to thicken up the epoxy to keep it from running out. These will cure until tomorrow evening and I will start drilling for the new hinges.

I did hear back from Gary at Pink-It and my tapes are ordered. I received confimation this evening that my fabric and dope shipped from Aircraft Spruce. Tomorrow I need to call TNT and get the bottom wing tube ordered. I keep forgetting that.

Later!!
Anthony

mango12

OK guys, suggestions on covering material needed................

WacoNut

Hi Scott,
You will get more opinions about fabric than you can shake a stick at. Products rangeing from Solartex, Sig Koveral, Stits, Ceconite-Lite, Poly-Fiber Lite, dress lining etc: There is actually a thread on the Kit Building Forum discussing the subject. Due to a certain individual posting there I am staying far away(will leave it at that).

Here are my experiences.
Solartex: Very easy to apply and looks good, accepts paint well. I covered my 1/3 Cub with Cub Yellow Solartex and it was way too transparent for my taste. I painted it with 3 coats of latex and it didn't help much. Would have been better off painting it white then yellow. The Solartex keeps going slack on me and developing wrinkles. I may have over stretched? Not sure what the issue is. Most likely an application issue at my end. I will wind up recovering the plane with fabric.

Sig Koveral: I have covered many planes with this and It applies very easy with dope and shrinks great. The weave is very loose on the fabric and requires 4-5 coats of PolyC to fill the weave. I prefer Polycrylic over dope for filling the weave. It gets the job done faster with no smell.

Poly-Fiber Lite: I purchase this from Aircraft Spruce along with the Nitrate dope I use to attach the fabric. It comes 72" wide and it just over $8 a yard. It is heavier than Sig Koveral but requires fewer coats to fill the weave. I think the finished weight is very comparable due to fewer coats. The fabric is a litltle harder too work with around tight corners but doable. The fabric shrinks great and is very stong, you have to be careful while shrinking as it can pull very hard. I covered my 1/4 DRI and my 30cc Stick with this fabric and will be covering the Waco with it. I have yet had a need to re-shrink this fabirc as it is holding drum tight.
I will put a couple coats of Polycrylic on the fabric before applying the rib stitches and tapes then I will put another 2 coats to help seal everything in. I will be painting the Waco with Klass Kote paint this time around. The latex paint looked good the last time but did not have the shine I want. It was also harder to keep clean.

I will be covering the fuselage this weekend and I will post some pics of the process I use for attaching the fabric and filling the weave.
Later!!
Anthony

WacoNut

I did manage ot get all 15 hinges in the tail surfaces re-drilled tonight as well as 2 of the wing panels and aileron's.
The local H/S was out of Robarts so I had him order me a pack of 50. I have a few on hand that I used for checking the hole alignments as I drilled the holes. My fabric order is due to arrive by the Big Brown Truck tomorrow. I probably won't get started with fabric until Saturday.
Later!!
Anthony

mango12

Anthony, thanks for the info. I wish super coverite was still available, as I loved working with that stuff. How much material is required to cover this model? I am ready to order covering materials, pinking tape and probably rib stitches as well. I can't report much progress as of now. I have some replacement parts from AMR that seem to be lost in transit (not Dany's fault) and am waiting for the stab tube and phenolic that was not in my kit. All I can do right now is work on the landing gear. I hope to have my Waco ready for the painter by the end of February. But I will be missing a week of shop time next week, I'll be in the Dominican Republic for a series of concerts. Already gave up deer season this year to get the project completed, and my freezer is empty !!

WacoNut

Hi Scott,
You have your work cut out for you. It took me a week of evenings to get the rib stitching and tapes applied to the wings the 1st time.

Let me know what method you decide to go with for your fabric application.
Later!!
Anthony

WacoNut

I finished drilling out the remaining hinges. The fabric and dope did arrive today as well. I may get ambitious and cover the fin this evening.

Right now my wife has me warming up the grill to cook some Porterhouse steaks, kind of tough grilling when it is 20deg outside.
Anthony

vibi08

Anthony, you are quite lucky to have a nice 20 degrees, her it is minus 20. :-(

Vincent