The cowling has had all the cooling holes cut out as well as cut to fit around the engine.

There is very little difference between a YDA-56 and a DL-50 as far as size and shape goes. They even have the same bolt pattern for mounting and the same prop bolt pattern. I was able to put my old cowl on and make minor adjustments to it then measure and transfer that to the new cowl and cut the holes. Now all I have to do is drill out the mounting holes which will be a bit more tedious.

A little FYI: The engine required either spacing the engine out 1/2" from the firewall or add a prop spacer. I went with the latter and turned a prop spacer on a lathe at work out of aluminum. This serves 2 purposes. If I spaced the engine out another 1/2" I would have to make 4 individual spacers or longer stand-offs and I would have to make the cutouts for the engine even larger as the cowl tapers towards the nose. The farther forward the engine the more it would stick out.

The order from F&M Enterprises for the Stits products is due to arrive tomorrow. I will start applying tapes tomorrow evening after work.

Later!!
Anthony

[QUOTE=WacoNut;11934353]Solartex is not fabric but a simulated fabric. It is a solid and it has adhesive all over the back side like monokote.

...QUOTE]

Are you talking about "Solarfilm"?

From the Balsa USA website: "Solartex is a super light, extra fine woven fabric covering material which adds immense strength and toughness to an air-frame. Solartex is coated with a powerful adhesive exclusive to this product. The material is an excellent covering for all types of model construction. The adhesive is active over a wide temperature range and gives Solartex the unique advantage over other iron-on fabrics that it can be used at low temperatures to mold around compound curves. Solartex is fuel proof and airtight as ironed on. Weight is 60-80 g.s.m. (grams per sq. meter). 30 g.s.m. is approximately one ounce per sq. yard."

Looking forward to your "tests".

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Flight.

Sincerely, Richard

Hi Richard,
I am referring to Solartex. to me it does not appear to be a fabric. If it is fabric it is very weak fabric. It will tear very easily.

I had thrown away all the large pieces taken off of the Cub. I have some new Solartex that has not been applied to a plane I will gladly sacrifice for the test. I will cut equal size pieces to be weighed.

My order arrived today but I am just too tired to work on the plane today.

I did find a couple pics of my Cub and Waco at the field. Makes me miss the warm weather.
Later!!
Anthony

Very nice planes.

The Stits fabric, being intended for full scale (gliders?) will likely be stronger, and as far as the base fabric in concerned, heavier than the Solartex would be WITHOUT the adhesive and finish. I would like to know how the Stits compares to Koverall, since both are unfinished and without adhesives. Do you have any data on Koverall?

When in Virginia, we flew year around; a lot of days were in the fifties, even in the winter. Not so in Connecticut. :-(

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas to You and Yours.

Sincerely, Richard
Cub Brotherhood #187; Sig 1/4 (Koverall/dope), H9 100 inch (Gen 1) (Solartex/?), GB Anniv Cub (NIB)
Club Saito #635; Saito 56, 100, 120abc, 130T, 180
Kadet Brotherhood #96; Mk I/II Kadet, Kadet Junior,
Sig Kougar, Sig 1/4 Cub, Sig 1/4 Spacewalker II
YS F 120

Richard,
My 1/3 Waco is wearing it's second set of clothes. I managed to stall on landing a few years ago and had to build a new fuselage and repair all 4 wing panels. Was not a pretty site. My most expensive crash to date. Anyhow the 1st covering job was with Sig Koverall and I filled the weave with Polycrylic and painted with latex. The 2nd covering job is with Poly-Fiber Lite uncertified fabric. It is the stuff they use on ultralights. The Koverall is a lighter fabric with a looser weave. It takes more product (dope, polycrylic or polyspray) to fill the weave of the fabric compared to Poly-Fiber Lite. The heavier tighter weave fills in faster and thus uses less weight of the filler to fill the weave. The 2nd paint job was with Klasskote epoxy paint, very nice product but also very expensive.

I believe the weight difference is negligible in the end. The Poly-Fiber Lite is definitely easier to finish than the Koverall IMO. Also the fabric comes 72" wide and is approx. $8.50 a yd. from aircraftspruce.com

Now Koverall does apply a little easier due to the fabric being a little thinner it goes around sharp corners easier. I found than I can take a trim iron on low heat and work the Poly-Fiber lite around the corner then dope it down and it works great. A lot of guys use Stix-It and swear by it but I have never tried it myself.

With this plane I will fill the weave with Polyspray. It is supposed to fill the weave with 2 sprayed coats and be ready for the Polytone color coats. We shall see when I get there.
Later!!
Anthony

Me too! ;) It's hard to convince folks that the adhesive is heavy!!!!! A doped finish is probably one of the lightest finishes to use but mileage varies due to the 'applicator'!

Anthony, after you have applied two coats of the poly-brush there may still appear to be weave showing. But keep in mind the silver and colors coats go on as well. The first time I used this stuff I did five layers of which definitely was not needed. And, if a clear coat is going on it helps hide the weave as well but I have never needed it for that yet.

And, by the way, I think (hope) we will be surprised by how light this system is.

I hope to get back to work on it tomorrow evening, been feeling under the weather the past couple of days.
I am sure you didn't steer me wrong;)

Sincerely hope you get to feelin better. As for steering, all I can say is, I love the stuff.

Update:
The cowl mounting has been completed. The fuse has been mounted back on the rotary stand and I will start applying the tapes tomorrow morning.

I went to Harbor Freight today at lunch and bought a set of HVLP guns, a full size gun with a 20oz cup and a 1.4mm and 1.8mm tips and a detail gun with a 4oz cup and 1.0mm tip. My old HVLP gun only has a 1.8mm tip and seem to be a bit on the large side. Can't wait to try them out.
Later!!
Anthony

Pics. Pics. Pics. DUDE!!!
On the guns, did you get the set in a case or were they individual?

They are in a case. 20% off coupon and got the set for $40 out the door.
Pics tomorrow:D

That's about how mine was. I love the little gun but the big one is to big for modeling, to me anyways. But I have used it else where though.

Felt good to sleep in this morning,

Here is a list of the products I ordered from F&M for finishing the Cub.
2 qts Polybrush
2 qts Polyspray
1 gal Polytone= J-3 OEM Yellow
1 qt Reducer
2 rolls 3/4" Tapes
2 rolls 1" Tapes
1 roll 2" Tapes

I think I will have at least a quart of the Yellow Polytone left over when finished. I hate to run out of anything during finishing. Once the paint job is complete and the lightning bolt and decals applied I will clear coat the plane with NASSAN clear coat from the local auto paint store.

I am getting ready to start applying the tapes to the fuselage. Always start at the back end and work your way forward. You want the tapes to overlap with the direction of airflow. The fin T/E will get taped 1st then start working towards the front of the fuse.

Here are pics of the Stits products and the spray gun set.

[QUOTE=WacoNut;11936937]...

Once the paint job is complete and the lightning bolt and decals applied I will clear coat the plane with NASSAN clear coat from the local auto paint store.
...QUOTE]

Does the NASSAN clear coat have a plasticizer in it or do you have to add some to keep it from cracking over time. Or has it proved not to need any? Does Stits have a clear top coat compatible with the rest of the system? Thanks for your comments. Many years ago I painted a model with catalyzed two part polyurethane and it looked great for a while. Then it started to crack. Bummer.

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Flight
\
Sincerely, Richard

Richard,
The NASSAN clear remains flexible, they recommended this paint to me at a Dupont automotive paint store. I used this clear on my Waco and it looks as good as day one. I will get the part number off of a can I have in the basement and post later.

Well I had my 1st mistake, I don't mind learning from mistakes but I prefer to learn from others;).

I applied the tape to the top center longeron and this is where the covering overlaps from the left and right side. The left side covering overlaps onto the right, after brushing the tape down I kept hearing a popping noise. After a couple of minutes I noticed the tape had moved off center. The Polybrush had softened the nitrate dope and released the fabric at the overlap. Here is my mistake: I had given the fabric the higher temp shrink before adding the tapes. The excess pull from the fabric loosened the overlap joint when the polybrush was applied.

I pulled the tapes off and resealed the overlap with polybrush and reapplied the tape on center. I will re-shrink the fabric after all the tapes are applied. From now on whenever I have an overlap I will brush down one side of the tape and let it dry them brush down the other side. This should prevent the fabric from pulling loose.

Other than that issue the tapes are going down well.

Richard,
I forgot, Stits has a clear but it will melt any decals that are applied to the plane before clearing. The NASSAN will not attack decals.

They look good Anthony. Just curious, what was the last temp you shrunk to?

Thank you, I am going to use Stits system for my next covering/recovering project.

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Flight.

Sincerely, Richard

260 deg, it was drum tight. I still had plenty of shrink ability in the fabric. I went back over it and it is tight again.


Now on to the next problem:mad: I wanted to start with the tapes on the bottom of the stab going over the stitches to see how it was going to work out and it didn't. The stitches I am using are from Scaleribstitch and they have an adhesive back paper that sticks them to the surface. As soon as the poly brush hits the paper it expands and buckles up the tape above it. I tried to iron it back down with a trim iron and no luck. I am going to try and brush the tape down along both sides of the stitch then shrink them down with the iron. If that doesn't work I don't know what to do. Any suggestions?

Later!!
Anthony

Anthony and I spoke on this issue and a number of alternatives were hashed over. There will be some test to check for compatibility before resuming with the tapes. I am sure Anthony will post what he finds.

Nice talking to you again Robert,

Ok here is the scoop. The rib stitching from scaleribstitch have a polymer layer over the rib stich to hold it to the backing paper. Evidently the MEK in the polybrush is attacking the polymer coating causing the rib stitch to distort under the rib tape.

When I applied the 1st tapes to the bottom of the stab I gave the rib stitching a coat of polybrush then laid the tapes over the stitching and brushed another coat into the tape. That is where it all went bad.

On the top of the stab I brushed a coat of polybrush along side the rib stitches then layed the tapes over and brushed another coat along the edge of the tapes. After this dried I shrunk the tapes down over the stitches with a trim iron. This worked very well and the tapes conformed to the stitches. I then brushed a very light coat of polybrush over the tape and stitches without any issues.

I had 3 other options if this didn't work. 1) Try using dope to adhere the tapes. 2) Use Tapes from Pink-It which I have on hand. 3) Make new rib stitches from string and eliminate the polymer coating issue. I am going to plow forward with the method above that yielded good results. It slows the process down a little but I can live with that.

Here are a few pics.

Looks like I can work around the issue, the stab and the fuse are now finished.

I think I will get the tail feathers out of the way before I tackle all that rib stitching on the wings.

Looks like you have it worked out, very good. They look great!

The rib tapes are on the elevators and I am working on putting the perimeter tapes on.

When you are putting the perimeter tapes on a curved edge like the elevators I have found it is best to attach the tape along it's center and allow it to dry then carefully iron the tape around the edges. This will shrink the edge of the tape making it conform to the shape without any wrinkles. Once it is shrunk down then brush the tape down with poly brush.

I will finish off the tail feathers tonight then start on the wings in the morning. Here are a few pics.