Hello all,

I have an old Carl Goldberg Piper Cub. It is about 13-17 years old. Give or take a few years. The plane has a few spots that look like they should be fixed. I have never flown it. I would like to get it ready for some air time, as my skills will be ready for it soon.
The covering looks like a fabric. I looked around and found that Fabrikote was used a long time ago, and is no longer made. I came across Coverite 21st century. Any thoughts??? As a new pilot I have never seen this kind of covering before. It does not look like any of the Mono on my other planes. The covering looks real brittle and hard. It does seem to have some flex in it though.
So what do you think I should do? Can this old covering be fixed/patched or do you think a recovering is in order?

-Andrew

I would recover it. Just slowly work the old covering off. Then you can repair any damaged areas and recover. Coverite or monokote would be alright. It's a fun aircraft to fly.

If it were me I’d recover, like Stang said.

However you threw in a couple key phrases that make me think you might want to just repair…. For now. “I would like to get it ready for some air time, as my skills will be ready for it soon�

If you’re a beginner, and you’re going to fly it a lot, the odds are not in your favor of this plane making it to the end of the season. If you just fix, you’ll have it in the air much sooner then if it does happen to crash you don’t have much invested. If it does make it to the end of the season then make it pretty during the winter because your odds of it living longer have dramatically increased.

I'm not in a big hurry to fly it. I still have my trainer. The last thing I want to do is crash a nice plane. I can take a year to recover it. It has been in my possession for 13 years.

Andrew

most of what you have shown will disapear if you run an iron over the covering to reshrink it.as you are still learning I would just reshrink the covering,patch any holes and fly it for the summer,then if you want recover it next winter.

I would recover it and inspect the airframe.
If you think the Cub will be much more fun than your trainer, you may be disappointed , to be honest , they fly a lot a like a trainer.. May be ? make this your first scale plane. Cubs looks kool when you fly them scale like.
For your second plane , IMHO you can not go wrong with a 4 Star and you can probably use your trainer engine and radio in one when your ready.

I have been flying a LT40 for about 1 year, I started a 4*40 kit and I'm thinking this will make a good 3rd plane. I might try and run a heat iron over it but I think it will be recovered in the long run.

Thanks
-Andrew

As long as you're in no hurry to fly it, go ahead and recover. Hell, you could take all year to do it and get really good at it

Have you ever covered before?

The Gold berg Cub's are really nice flyers. JMO, they are better than the Great Planes. I've had both. Recover with 21st Century it looks much better on a Cub.

Finish the 4 Star , once you fly it, your LT 40 will set collecting dust. lol . Don`t get me wrong , I love my LT40 but the 4 Star is soooo sweeeet !
Does this Cub come with an engine? I have a Magnum 52 four stroke in mine GB Cub, pulls it along nicely.
Just a word of caution about Coverite. It does not handle as well as Monocoat or Ultra coat. I covered my 4 Star with it and it was a chore but it did come out nice.
Good Luck

I would inspect the plane and make sure it is safe to fly.Check glue joints,control surfaces and linkages,hinges and
all bolts,nuts and screws.Once everything is safe and secure,I would fly it or get someone to help you get it in the air.
Then after you fly it and determine if you will enjoy flying it,then I would cover it. If you don't like,don't waste money recovering it.
Being a Cub,it will fly similiar to a trainer as stated in other posts.Just my opinion.

Roy

Well, you have gotten plenty of advice, so I will just add my 2 cents worth. I am currently finishing a GP Cub that was given to me about 75% complete. (76.5" Wing Span)
I am using Solartex to cover it. I ordered the Solartex in the Cub Yellow color from Balsa USA. I can't tell you how pleased I am with this covering. I had no previous experience with fabric coverings and I can't believe the ease of covering with Solartex. It goes around the curves, wingtips, etc. with no strain or pain. It works so easy with just an iron.

I highly recommend this covering. I will spray it with LusterKote clear. The Solartex is fuelproof, but I understand from those that have used it for sometime that because it is fabric that it can get somewhat dirty after awhile. Some just recommend scrubbing it with a soft brush and soap and water occasionally.

Anyway, good luck with your Cub. Overall, I think it looks good enough to make some repairs, remove some wrinkles, fly it, see how you like it and recover it this next winter.

Lots of great ideas and help. I realy do appreciate it, keep them coming.

Andrew

Safebet,
It came with an inverted K@B 61. I ran it once when I first got the plane 13 years ago.

Take the time and recover it. Use the Solartex, it's a little more user friendly than the 21st Century product. Since it will be opened up, inspect all the glue joints and touch up as needed. After all is said and done you'll get to go out and really learn to fly. The Cub absolutely requires using the left thumb if you ever want to turn. They're a blast to fly, and even more fun to watch someone fly that never uses a rudder. You'll have to T/O and land for them though

Repairing is possible as most look like problems with the paint. You need to find out what type of paint it is. Buy a bottle of yellow butyrate dope, some yellow Coverrite paint, and a can of Lusterkote clean off the plane with some denatured alcohol, and paint a test patch's on the bottom. If both Lusterkote and the dope work with no problems then the plane is likely painted with butyrate dope, if only the Lustercote then it was painted with Lustercote or automotive acrylic lacquer, if the Coverrite paint is the only one that works then the plane was covered in Coverrite or painted with a polyester paint. Once you know what it is you can buy material and paint to patch it.

OK great,

Can I find this stuff at my LHS or is it easyer to do mail order?

Thanks
Andrew

I would suggest using a heat gun as you peal the covering off. The heat will loosen the glue and make the job much easier. Dennis

Many LHS will have this stuff. You can get the acrylic laquer at the auto parts store.

Thank you

Andrew