painting the wings, UV, etc.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

That's what I did after the pull test (wet sanded off the color coats and applied two full cross coats of silver). I was lucky that the person who did the light silver coats followed them with lots of clear fill before the color was put on. It allowed me to sand off the color without cutting into the fabric. I have been building models for over 50 years and did a lot of silk and dope work. If I could sand the finish off of silk I figured I could do it on the Taylorcraft. If you sand you CAN NOT CUT THE FIBERS IN THE FABRIC. If you hit the fabric it is ruined.
If I had ANY IDEA how much work it would be I would have cut the fabric off and recovered. What I ended up with was a 10 foot finish. Not a shine 10 feet deep, a finish that look "just OK" from 10 feet.
LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES, DO NOT TRY TO SAND AND REPAINT. All I saved was the cost of the fabric itself and I put in 50 times the labor. I have every intention of tearing the whole job off as soon as the 45 is flying. All that work and money for probably 5 years delay in a recover. It isn't worth it.
Hank

[Forrest Barber]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

Try AP303 for UV protection , pull test is best, however if it is a beautiful job , relax and enjoy. The punch test is only an indicator of possible problems; Maule tester will still do the job too!

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

My strongest incentive for sanding off the paint was the BUTT UGLY color scheme. The lack of silver was just another excuse that pushed me over the line. If I had it to do over again and wanted to get in the air quickly I would look into just putting the two cross coats of silver OVER the ugly paint and flying her in silver till I recovered. If she was light enough I could have even shot a light coat of color over the silver. Maybe just double silver the top surfaces? Whatever choice was made, I would still plan on a recover as soon as I had another plane flying.
I didn't find out there was about 20# of junk in her (like unused wire and heavy plywood panels and floorboards) till she was already sanded. With that out I could have probably have carried the weight of the extra paint till recover.
I still stand by my early recommendation. DON'T bother with sanding off all the color.
Hank

[jim cooper]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

After conversing with Bill Pancake here is my latest finding. Hank has it cold. He is right on. Bill says that the punch test IS "acceptable" while the pull test is the final test. The 337 says that four coats of silver were applied with fine sanding between each coat. He also reminded me that MANY annuals are done INSIDE of a hangar where the UV exposure would be harder to see and that in all probability MANY are flying around with less than adequate silver. (An excellent point!) I am told that if it punches 46, fly on! Needless to say, its off the market until I sort all this out. He said, due to the hangar life it has had, it should be fine and may only last 30 years instead of 40. Also mentioned the color, daytona creme which has good reflective quality. I post this especially for anyone considering buying a fabric airplane. The fellow I sent to look at this airplane, who I've flown with, is retired US air Captain and GREW UP around fabric airplanes. He never took an inspection cover off! The fellow who SOLD it to me should have said something about it but chose the sin of omission. Remained silent. JC I will fly it until the April annual and go from there. PSS.....I sure appreciate all your responses! Many Thanks. Don't hesitate to add more! I think Hank, Forest, Bill, etc. probably know more about it than the manuf. as far as longevity, etc.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

Jim,
There is an instrument used to measure UV (kind of like a light meter filtered to one frequency). I'm pretty sure the lab at the Naval Air Rework Facility where I used to work had one. If there is a physics program at a local university you might be able to get a student to check one out to take a reading from INSIDE your wing in strong sunlight. By comparing the readings with open sun, a reading through a piece of uncoated fabric and one with two heavy cross coats of silver you could find out if there is even a problem.

Your hook for the student is that it would be a GREAT paper for him (or her) in applied physics. Maybe offer a free tour of the area in your plane?

An academic paper that actually DOES something, combined with introducing someone new to REAL aviation and removing a cloud of uncertainty from a beautiful plane. This sounds like a triple win! I would REALLY want to read that paper.

Hank

Careful if it is a cute coed, we are supposed to be grungy old plane flyers. The guys at the airport will wonder what you are REALLY up to. ;-)

[jim cooper]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

Hank, at 74 they won't wonder much! Excellent idea though! JC

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

Hey, Hugh Hefner just got engaged to a 24 year old! He is 84!!!!
Hank

MAKE em wonder! Especially if there are any RV guys around.

[Jim Herpst]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

Priceless Hank !!

[Marv]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

The A&P that taught me to recover with Ceconite, told me to cross coat with the aluminum coats until i could hold a trouble light to the cover and not see any light through it. He experimented with a set of wings to see if the aluminun done any good. He did not put the coates of aluminun on and just painted them and set them outside in the sun, that was in the spring. When fall came the fabric was junk. Marv

[Marv]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

Sorry i forgot to tell you it was supposed to be a 100 watt light bulb in the trouble light . Has anyone on the forum heard of this method? Marv

[guns68]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

yep, the IA that helped me with my wings said (and we did) the same thing.

[Ray36048]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

The is the same recomendation for Ploy Fiber.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

We used the 100 watt bulb trick too. That is visible light, but should work with UV too IF you are using a UV filtering paint. You COULD pile on enough green latex house paint to stop the visible light and not stop any UV at all. Some paints that are opaque to visible light are transparent to UV. The trick will NOT work if the colored dope is already on. You do it after ONLY the clear and silver coat. The aluminum powder in the dope is what is stopping the UV.
Hank

Another thing is it looks like a GREAT idea to put the drop light inside the fuselage while you paint and just add silver where you can see the light through the fabric. DON'T!!!! The inside of the fuselage or wing can be full of fumes and if the bulb breaks it can ignite the fumes! Ventilate the area and have a helper hold the light next to the fabric on the OUTSIDE while you look for the light through the inspection holes or down the tail cone. If the fumes are strong in the tail cone WAIT!
Hank

[high time cub]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

Hey, Hugh Hefner just got engaged to a 24 year old! He is 84!!!!
Hank

"the pointer stays at the highest strength..... Quality built for years of rugged dependable service"

HT

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: painting the wings, UV, etc.

Wow, if someone has one of these I want one! I'll even pay the full $32.
Hank

I was a little worried what you were talking about till I opened the picture!