Stewart System

[Pilot78]

Group,
Just wondering if anyone has used Stewart systems for covering their Tcraft. I saw their booth and demonstrations at Oshkosh and watch their Youtube posts. What I liked about it over the Stits process is the water clean up and there is no toxic fumes or thinners. I looked through the STC/337's for Stewart Systems on the site and didn't see one. Has anyone had any experience with it? Thanks for the input.

Brian
SLC-UT
F-19 sportsman

[Pearson]

Re: Stewart System

Brian,

There has been a good bit of discussion here about the Stewart system. Try doing a search by clicking on the blue bar near the top of the page. If that doesn't satisfy your curiosity, I am sure someone will be glad to offer a fresh insight. I do not have any first hand knowledge from actual use of this system. I have seen aircraft finished with the Stewart system. They looked ok to me other than the paint didn't seem as nice as other finishes.

[Pilot78]

Re: Stewart System

Thanks, did the search and found what I needed. Going to order the DVD's this weekend.

Brian

[N96337]

Re: Stewart System

It's light years ahead of anything else out there! I've used it for years, and love it!
John

[perryv1]

Re: Stewart System

I recovered 1 wing and referbished my airplane earlier this year,Im am Very happy with the results.As far as the finish is concered,Its Better than anything else I have worked with.just dont try to spray any of the coatings if the humidity is above 70% or it will blush or run.other than that it was very easy.
PV

[magman]

Re: Stewart System

There have been many other systems that were initially thought to be wonderful

but later passed from the scene.

As near as I can tell the Stewart Sys process has been with us for about 8 years.

LONGEVITY would be a important concern for me.

Not just for the fabric but for underlying structure.

Have there been any aircraft with this product installed that were

involved in an accident/incident?

While unfortunate; it would provide an opportunity to determine

long term effects on aluminum & steel.

BTW- I have noticed the same concern on other forums.

Hopefully all is well as they seem like great people.

From my area too!

[N96337]

Re: Stewart System

Hmmmmmmm........longevity? Well let's see.... I've got samples that I took for the booth at OSH in '99...they were handled by thousands every day...wadded up and stretched out again...as well as sent through the wash a couple times (oops), then they've sat in the window sill of the shop pretty much since then.....and they can STILL be wadded up into a little ball, stretched back out, and no cracking of the finish whatsoever. Stewart's themselves, have some fine examples of aircraft that they used this system on, long before they aquired it, and they're holding up very well! As far as the fabric, that's a very well proven product..been around for years, and is being used by the other systems. Harmful to the under structure?? Don't see anything there that would be harmful, and haven't seen anything that was harmed by it yet. I'd say it's a "non-concern". Like I said before, it's light years ahead of the others, at least as far as I can see! It's DIFFERENT, so there's always a bunch of "nay-sayers" that really don't have experience, but always have opinions, and that's a good thing, but MY opinions come from using it..
John

[magman]

Re: Stewart System

Please don't put me in the "nay-sayer" dept but there have been quite a few

aeronautical ideas that didn't quite work out as well as one would like.

1. Combination Hydrogen- hot air balloon

2. TCM's Tiara engine

3. Mooney-Porsche

4. Cermi-chrome cykinders ( & others)

5. Superflight System 11 (?) ( NOT a current process)

6. Phillips X-C 11 & Av-oil oil ( NOT the current Phillips also).


Staying with "tried & true" means "no improvement" as well.

Glad to hear Stewart has been out over 10 years.

Sometimes lab tests do not show what happens in the "real world".

I think I still have my Blue River video.

My understanding is it was a good system but there were problems .

Maybe corrosion?

Did Piper use this system for a while & then abandon it?

I could be I have it mixed up with a different system.

Anyone know what was the trouble with Blue River; if any?

[perryv1]

Re: Stewart System

I can tell you that this is NOT the Blue river system.

[Ray36048]

Re: Stewart System

I don't know if the system Piper was using was Blue River or something else, but they had to recover all the Super Cubs that they used the process on. There was some problem of the base coats not sticking to the fabric. They used the old fabric and dope method the second time around.

That was the end of fabric covered airplanes for Piper.

[magman]

Re: Stewart System

I don't know if the system Piper was using was Blue River or something else, but they had to recover all the Super Cubs that they used the process on. There was some problem of the base coats not sticking to the fabric. They used the old fabric and dope method the second time around.

That was the end of fabric covered airplanes for Piper.

It seems there is enough MISINFORMATION to go around!

The "rumor" that I heard was similar but stated that Piper used

"Air-tech" at the end.

My neighbor has one of the last Super Cubs made & that's my source.

Funny how facts can get twisted.

Anyone KNOW the facts for sure?

[Pearson]

Re: Stewart System

During a large fly-in, I attended a short presentation about using the Stewart System. During the question and answer session that followed, the question was asked about the relationship between the Blue River Process and the Stewart Process. The answer was that they are completely different processes. During the presentation they said that the glue joints had been proven to be stronger than the fabric itself. They have some of the strongest glue in the recovering business. When I said, in my previous post, the finish didn't look as good as some of the others I had seen, I did not mean to imply that Stewart Paint isn't any good. I just meant that this particular paint job wasn't as good as others. If I were considering using this process, I would call the Stewart people and ask them questions about any of my concerns.

[magman]

Re: Stewart System

I can tell you that this is NOT the Blue river system.

Have YOU used both ?

[magman]

Re: Stewart System

Contacting a manufacturer regarding concerns about a product can be helpful

but I tend to put more faith in an independent forum or folks I know.

I'm sure every mfg. can state their product is the BEST.

And in some ways ( NOT ALL ways ) I'm sure they are correct.

All of us have different concerns .

Caveat Emptor.

[perryv1]

Re: Stewart System

Have YOU used both ?

Yes,I got my first introduction in covering/Recovering a champ quite a few years ago.When it was cold and rainy,you could see the sag in the bottom of the wings,Not Happy!
PV