Hey guys, I"m hoping one of you scale guys can help me out. Please bear with me here, it's a sad story. I admired this D17 Marutaka Staggerwing one of the gentleman in our club was building. Every month he would bring it to club meetings to show his progress. His AMA # is 101. He has kit or scratch built 189 airplanes. I know this because he has numbered every build inside the planes. He builds some very nice planes. When he finished the plane I made him an offer for it. After about 3 weeks he called me and accepted my offer. I set the plane up with the recommended CG by the plans and that is where he told me it should be. After checking and checking and you know checking again,I was ready for maiden. As the plane left the ground, it was apparent my hands were full of a very tail heavy plane. It was set up with top wing ailerons and with the tail hanging down I did'nt have much control. Needles to say,it went down. The plane was built well enough that it is repairable. The Aluminum cowl is torn up pretty bad,{would like to find a new one.} any ideas other than fiberglass specialties? Also the plane has been painted with automotive paint on Sig coverall. The paint has cracked and chipped all over. Any ideas on paint removal without stripping the covering? The covering had been doped on and I"m afraid I will tear the structure up removing it. Any help with a new cowl and removing the paint without tearing up the plane would be very helpful. Pleeeeese,any one?

Come on guys, 63 hits and nobody has a word of advise.

I don't know about the cowl, but stripping isn't that hard. Just brush on some stripper (I like the gel type), let the paint soften up for a few minutes, and peal off the covering. I don't know of any stripper that will take off the paint without loosening the covering.
Steve

looks like it would be much easier to recover the bird then try to save it. acetone works quite well at softening doped surfaces. on the cowl take a tape measure to the pots and pan section of your local store and see what you can find, you might be suprised!