Just paint cracks?

By underneath I assume you mean you can see raw fabric? Not good, because UV does a number on Dacron, turning it fairly rapidly into white dust.

Scuff it up real good and put a patch on it. I have had success with Stewarts System through Ekofill, then rattle can. Minor alteration.

If it looks like that in more than, say, five or six places, time for recover. Opinion.
 
Patch. It will be fine. Local paint shops can match your color in a rattle can.
 
Most likely it is some variant of Urethane then. First step is always to find out the system that was used. Should be in the log if it has been repainted. If OEM, I think the factory used Aerothane or Superflite in 2001. But call ACA, they would know.

Paint is peeling away from the fabric, so it is past the scuff and paint stage. Painting on top of a base coating with adherence problems is just going to get you more problems. You need to find out if the UV protection has been compromised, and repair that ASAP if so. Then remove the coating back to where it firmly adheres to the fabric and repaint the area using the recommended materials for your system.

If I were shopping for a fabric covered aircraft and saw a rattle can repair, I would cut my offer by $10K on the spot.
 
FWIW I had my mechanic look at the cracking paint, he said it would easily make it to annual in April. Plus, it was too cold to consistently dope/paint now anyway... I guess I'll just fly it until then... It's parked inside.....
 
I had a small crack in my fuselage like that, only smaller. I got some of that expensive clear mylar tape, pinked the edges, and stuck it on. Since the tape is clear, you can see the crack through it. So I masked the area of visible crack, and rattle- canned it, reducing, of course, the value of my Cub by ten grand in five minutes. But it looks better.
 
Yeah - needling Ed - who really knows how to repair old fabric. I would never even attempt what he successfully did -I don't have the skills or patience. He is correct - patchwork that is visible lowers the value of an aircraft.

My Dec is covered using Randolph Butyrate, and I have some older cans of color, so I can do almost invisible repairs. The Cub is coated with Auto Acrylic (Delstar) which shines like a diamond, but is not repairable at all without making a mess.
 
darrell whitley said:
I think it was due to some previous owner using his hands to move it vs the tow bar on the tail wheel.
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i'd bet you're/your/yer right. Stewart Systems can legally be used for repairs of any other covering system.

if it were moi, i'd carefully cut the loose stuff loose so as to not further disturb the surrounding area. then i'd feather down the surrounding paint to the fabric being careful not to hit the bare fabric at all. maybe mask off the bare fabric before sanding to protect it. once you have bare fabric with the surrounding paint well feathered, stewarts can be used to build it back up layer by layer and the top coat can be color matched and feathered into the surrounding area. any problems under that existing paint though and the cracks will keep coming back.

imho, ymmv
 
Agree. Great success with Stewarts patches over finish. Factory says not to use wet sandpaper on Ekofill, but I find that, after a day's drying time, wet with 320 really makes a smooth patch. Outer finish - not an expert, but there is some sentiment that for minor patches (minor alterations) you can use what you want. I did leave a rather large series of patches out in the sun for six months before coating with finish paint, and while the factory says do not leave Ekofill exposed to the elements, the aircraft suffered not at all.

A lot of older airplanes were shot with auto catalyzed enamel without plasticizers, and they tend to crack as above, taking the protective silver with them. They can be fixed.
 
Here is the ten thousand dollar quick fix. You can see the clear tape, and the mis-matched rattle can paint covers some really bad looking stuff.
In my defense, I am more into flying than I am at winning first place in a static display - today I did ten landings in this aircraft with an 11 kt direct crosswind, reported gusts to 22.
And yeah, some day I am going to get matching rattle cans - $75 for four, and guaranteed to match. This is Ford Commercial Truck Yellow from 1981, sprayed in my driveway, so I guess it has lasted pretty good.
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LOL, I suppose I should explain my rattle can remark, and qualify that it pertains mainly to butyrate dope, which is the only system I have experience with.

Ceconite and dope is an inferior system to modern finishes such as urethane. It does however have one magical property: dope remains soluble in dope thinner forever. Dope does not cure or harden; the solvents just dry out. Wet it with solvents and it becomes just like wet paint again. You can take a 50 year old chip of dope and drop it in thinner and it will dissolve and vanish in seconds.

This makes it absurdly easy to repair, because each coat melts into the coat underneath it with no adhesion concerns. Patches easily blend into the surrounding area, with no feathering required. You can rejuvenate at any time by spraying thinner mixed with plasticizers. Bad areas or mistakes can be removed by wiping with thinner or solvent. If you want to repaint an entire section or surface, just remove the loose or cracking areas, shoot a coat of sliver to fill in the cracks, and then spray a fresh topcoat.

Rattle can or other non-system repairs ruin that magic quality, because A) dope won't ahere to enamel, and B) thinner won't dissolve them. They means that in order to refinish a large area correctly, you have to mechanically remove any incompatible repairs by carefully sanding. That can add days to a project. Ask me how I know.

So my issue with rattle can repairs is simple: you may not want to do a large area repair or refinish later, but the next guy might, and you made his job a lot harder.

Beyond that, dope is relatively cheap, safe, and easy to use. No special equipment needed, just a cheap Harbor Freight touchup gun, air compressor, and 3M filter mask. Why would you intentionally do it wrong, just to prove you could?

Now urethanes are a whole different story. I would not mess with that stuff unless I was properly equipped with a forced air respirator. I've been an athlete my whole life and not about to trash my lungs just to save a buck.
 
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Bob Turner said:
I had a small crack in my fuselage like that, only smaller. I got some of that expensive clear mylar tape, pinked the edges, and stuck it on. Since the tape is clear, you can see the crack through it. So I masked the area of visible crack, and rattle- canned it, reducing, of course, the value of my Cub by ten grand in five minutes. But it looks better.
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I’ve seen several mentions of clear Mylar tape but I can’t seem to locate said tape at spruce or anywhere else. Can you share what tape you’re referring to?
 
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