Fuselage stitching?

[mulwyk]

I'm recovering a BC12-D. The old cover had rib stitching on the rudder, elevators, horizontal stabs. But nothing at all on the fuselage itself. Is there supposed to be any rib stitching on the fuselage? Maybe on the vertical stab?

[VictorBravo]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

I'm recovering a BC12-D. The old cover had rib stitching on the rudder, elevators, horizontal stabs. But nothing at all on the fuselage itself. Is there supposed to be any rib stitching on the fuselage? Maybe on the vertical stab?

I'm fairly sure that there should be some stitching on the upper "ribs" in the vertical fin. The experienced restorers will know which ribs are stitched and whether the bottom rib is or is not.

[Larry Lyons]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

Joel should way in here. We just got through covering the fuselage on a 46 T and the old covering had the stitching on the Vertical stab. The new did not get the stitching and looks much better, more natural. I have noticed most seem to not have the stitching, but I sure do not know which is correct. Larry

[Ron Greene]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

Take a look at these L-2 drawings keeping in mind the tail feathers are the same as the BC-12D

http://www.taylorcraft.org/l2_blueprints/cd1/images/D-(A)176.jpg

http://www.taylorcraft.org/l2_blueprints/cd1/images/D-(A)409.jpg

http://www.taylorcraft.org/l2_blueprints/cd1/images/D-(A)412.jpg

http://www.taylorcraft.org/l2_blueprints/cd1/images/D-(A)413.jpg

http://www.taylorcraft.org/l2_blueprints/cd1/images/D-(A)414.jpg

[Robert Lees]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

Hi Bob, your aeroplane is a post-war model, like mine. On my 1946 Taylorcraft, the only fuselage stitching I did was on the fin, and I stitched the top fin rib, and the top rib only, like this:



and



In Silver it looked like this:



The final spray coats looked like this:



Now it looks like this:




Most of the covering details I did, including text & photos are here

The only other time I can think of stitching the fuselage is if you choose to use an envelope (I used the "blanket" method) or if you feel the need to baseball stitch the fin/fuselage join.

Hope this helps.

Rob.

[Ryan]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

Rob pretty much covered it. Mine had all of the vertical fin ribs stitched when I took the covering off.

Ryan

[mulwyk]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

OK, great information. Thanks all. I'm going to add stitching to the vertical fin even though the old cover didn't have it. I'll do the top rib only, Mr. Lees style.

Next question is about the rudder cable exit holes...I'll start a separate thread for that...

[Howard Wilson]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

Thanks for that pic Bob, Now I know how to keep the dust from coming up thru the barn floor! Horses are always stirring it up.

[Ray36048]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

Bob,
Did you use the blanket method or did you buy an envelope?

[Pearson]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

I have seen Taylorcraft with only 4 stitches on the top rib of the fin. They each had a diamond shaped piece of tape over them. In other words, there wasn't a continous piece of tape running fore and aft along the rib. I really liked the way it looked and plan to do mine that way. Sorry I don't have a picture.

[Robert Lees]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

Hank's the expert on diamond patches.

[jdoran]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

Patches, I'm depending on you son........

[mulwyk]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

Diamond patch = cool! Wish I woulda done that.
But I used the Lees method continueous tape this afternoon that also looks very cool. (The wife wants to bring her friends over to see the "airplane"!, yeah, that cool)

I used an envelope. It didn't fit worth a damn on the wings and I had to split one of the seams to get it on. Much cursing ensued. (upside of envelope method on wings: I used poly fiber padding on the leading edge...it looks as smooth and sleek as a brand new wing!) But then the envelope fit like a dream on the fuselage and I had the whole thing installed in a couple hours, all and all I'm an envelope fan.

[Ragwing nut]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

Stitch on top horizontal rib only is correct. But, what most people don't realize there is a metal strap about 3/8" wide that goes over the outside of the cover and taped in. If you see a small pk hole in the back of the vertical tube and 2 on the leading edge tube, about where the lower rib is, that is what went there. I have a couple around the shop somewhere.

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Fuselage stitching?

top rib only some had only three indivdual stitches, will check for drawing.