Ceconite rejuvenation

Two weeks. Problem is the boot cowl - will your IA let you attach (maybe stitch) your new fabric to the old fabric where it is difficult to wrap it around a former? I believe it is legal, and if you do the tape right, the stitches won't show.

You might be able to do it with the wings on - that would save a day, and the very real possibility of damage.

I will study mine, and see if my advice makes sense.

I graduated, three weeks ago, to a Graco-Croix turbine HVLP spray setup. Today I left my hangar at 12:18, pedalled across the airport, stirred the Poly Tone yellow, dumped three cupfuls into the gun and put a complete crosscoat on a Taylorcraft wing, cleaned the gun, closed the hangar, and was back 8 minutes early for my 1 PM student.

If I had been using my Binks 18, I would still be there . . .

I do have a wing rotator, so it is a one-man show.

Fuselage fabric attachment goes really, really fast. The time-consuming part is the window edges and taping. Spraying is three days, if you really work at it and have something to do while each coat dries.

I now think that, with the HVLP turbine setup, two coats of silver "Poly Spray" is enough, and to get going, one coat of white and go fly. That, including spraying the second coat of Poly Brush, is four coats. I am going to do a test panel before doing the tail feathers on the T Cart.

More tomorrow. Others here are getting good results with Stewarts, but the learning curve is high. Coating through Eko-Fill is actually faster than the Stitts, but that finish coat seems to be tricky.

This is just one opinion. We have some really knowledgable participants here - you are in the right place to get various opinions and choose.
 
By the way, I subscribe to your "down and dirty" approach. A complete restoration is six months if you bust your balls. You have a day job, and that should take precedence. Take the rust off, use only sealed batteries (Concorde RG 35 XC), replace the wood and don't spend too much effort varnishing, and cover. Boom. Wish I could help.
 
I will jump in and say the amount of time will depend on what you find when you remove old fabric, and add how long it will take to get whatever parts needed allow at least a week for this. If parts are available, the envelope will take less than a week to get. Then as a one man show installing this took a complete day plus (glueing in fabric around windows) then the next day was spent ironing I covered both temp 2 times over then spent extra time anywhere the tubes or any heat might be lost. At least 2 days for the tape application. Then going back over everything before the uv protection phase. If your going to spray the (silver) at least 1 maybe 2 days to tape everything from over spray, don’t forget the hanger and what’s in it. A day of sanding then final uv layer spray then color and numbers then reassembly.

Best case depending on help a month to 6 weeks and how well you are willing to stay at it.

Suggestions
Get some bags for all the screw nuts and bolts (mark where they came from)
Have plenty of rags and gloves
When your sanding cover your finger tips with medical tape (saves a lot of pain later)
If you think there is any chance of overspray cover it

Best of luck and if I was closer would offer to help.
 
Ed, if you can absolutely resist the urge to undo, fix, and redo everything you see, then it will go a lot faster than you think.

think of the saying about watching the sausage get made, you are going head first into the sausage!!! I did it with my 7eca project, rebuilt the wings with Milan spars and put it all back together without trying to make a museum piece out of it....but it was hard!! "just get it flying" was my mantra.

those lower longerons will deserve extra attention if the fabric is coming off. any light corrosion that is visible through the paint should be stripped to bare metal, primed, and top coated while you have the chance, IMHO.

anything else that is working fine now can be left alone but I will say, replace the hardware and bushings in the stick sockets if there is any play between the two sticks, it is so much better with tight sticks and only takes about 30 minutes to do.

good luck Ed!!

would you like me to move this thread to the projects area?
 
word from Stewart Systems was that turbine systems don't atomize the paint enough. haven't checked in about a year but that was their take on it. Stewart paint works great but stable temps and patience between coats are vital to get great results.
 
I looked today, and I think that, at the boot cowl, if you are very careful to leave the finish alone for about an inch back, then strip to bare for another inch or so, you can hand-stitch the new fabric. Glue it first, then stitch, and finally cover the seam with 4" tape, so you can hide the stitches and paint interface.

I don't see the problem that Cindy sees with the wings, but you could use the same approach. The reason for leaving the finish on for an inch or so - you need the UV protection right at the boot cowl edge, and if you peel the paint off, you will not get silver right in the joint, where it counts. The ragged edge of paint to cloth can be hidden by shrinking the 4" tape.

As to spraying the belly - I do repairs down there, and have no problem. You might jack the tail up a bit while spraying.

I have never done envelopes. Your IA may require seams up top, where you cannot glue to structure (check with the factory - if they glue to wood stringers, you can too). If he makes you do that, have a local seamstress do a flat fell.

Again, just one opinion.
 
I’m a little confused, stitching by boot cowl? if you take it off just glue fabric to frame or am I missing something? It sounds like your not planning on taking that off. All this conversation makes me think I’m missing something.
 
I figured he meant the belly pan. The forward edge of the bottom fabric is stitched to a metal tube bow that stretches widthwise across the frame below the landing gear bracket.

The wraparound cowl overlaps the fabric by about 1/2" where it is glued to the frame in front of the door and on the other side of the fuse. But the cowl is easily opened up to access that fabric.
 
Of course. Ed wants to avoid taking stuff apart, and plans on doing a real restoration later. Is there a way to get under the boot cowl without removing the engine? And a way to get enough silver under the boot cowl area to protect the strength of the fabric?
If so, that's the advice Ed needs. I just looked quickly.

Just saw Ed's response - yeah, if you can open it up that is the only way to go. My belly pan is 1977, and comes completely off with about 20 screws, but the boot cowl looks rather attached around the windshield area.
Somebody may have modified mine - I can change the windshield without removing the wings. That is apparently unusual.
 
I spent today ripping out 42 year old carpet and cleaning out rotted foam lining from the carpet, wraparound cowl, and firewall. Fortunately most of that black stuff vacuumed right out.
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Boot cowl is easy to open up. Don't need to remove. Just remove fasteners at bottom and sides, then use a bungee cord to pull the bottoms up and away from the fuse. Plenty of room to get your head and arms in there.

Really quite a revelation to see all the plumbing and cables behind the header tank. I found a couple of very questionable situations. Glad I opened it up.

Will post pics later.
 
Ed, I just did that with the rugs. Repaired the 40 year old plywood, dyed it black, gave it four coats of urethane varnish, and re-installed with Tinnerman nuts and #8 chrome sheet metal screws. Looks elegant, even a year later - glad I did it.

Goodyear did the same, only he got carbon fiber - looks even better, and is lighter, if not very cost-efficient.
 
Bob Turner said:
Ed, I just did that with the rugs. Repaired the 40 year old plywood, dyed it black, gave it four coats of urethane varnish, and re-installed with Tinnerman nuts and #8 chrome sheet metal screws. Looks elegant, even a year later - glad I did it.

Goodyear did the same, only he got carbon fiber - looks even better, and is lighter, if not very cost-efficient.
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Sounds like a great approach. What did you do for boots on the control sticks? What about the lower interior panels ... did you staple down to the wood, or do something else? Please post pics if you have any.
 
Got new boots from ACA, removed the rugs and attached the boots right to the floorboards. Lower interior panels kind of flap in the breeze but i'm not really worried about it.

I can't believe how much crap was stuck under your carpet!
 
Bartman said:
Got new boots from ACA, removed the rugs and attached the boots right to the floorboards. Lower interior panels kind of flap in the breeze but i'm not really worried about it.
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Aluminum trim strips with wood screws would give it a bit of finish.
 
There has been a lot of discussion about boot cowls. Mine were easy to open up, and dramatically improved accessibility of the area under and behind the panel. Note use of bungee to jury strut brace.
It appears that it is still held in place by two screws fastening it to a frame tab at the top center aft edge of the boot cowl, under the glare shield. I did not monkey with those because I already have a whole pile of plane parts and hardware to put back.
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One thing that bugs me, now that I am digging into my plane, is how rudimentary the interior materials are. Actually, that doesn't bug me, but the prices I see quoted for replacement interiors very much bug me. Kind of a scam that people are charging thousands for dollars for some crappy vinyl glued to a piece of aluminum. The shop that does the interiors for ACA is very much in that category. I'm sure their stuff is wonderful, but gimme a break. This stuff is very much within the range of the average DIY Joe.

Had a chance to buy a new carpet set for $250 a few months ago on Facebook. Kicking myself now that I didn't grab it.

Will be interesting to see what is for sale at Sun n Fun. Are there a lot of vendors selling stuff like carpet sets?
 
BIG NEWS ... for me.

I think I am going to have the fuselage covered. A shop in Mississippi has an immediate opening, and the price is reasonable. I am going to control costs by not getting a full restore, just an IRAN with replacement of formers, stringers, and cables. Covering system will be Airtech.

I have enjoyed learning about my plane, but I need to concentrate more on my job. Got some big business opportunities this spring that could pay for a whole lotta airplane work.

I got the quote without tail surfaces, but I think I am going to ask him to add that to the work.

Trying to work out the logistics of running it up there now.
 
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Opinions needed on paint scheme. Right now my plan is to keep the same scheme, so I don't have to repaint the cowl: yellow on top, white on bottom, and 2 blue side stripes.

I hate the starbursts. Very 70's groovy and pretentious. Also trying to control labor cost by minimizing masking time. So I'm planning on having the tailfeathers painted solid yellow. Thoughts?

One day I would like to paint the rudder in the old pre-WWII AAF training pattern with 13 horizontal red and white stripes. But I think that goes against my goal of spending $$ on mechanical soundness, not cosmetics.

Will probably paint the wings solid yellow when the time comes.
 
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