Painted to look like cowl trim

[TimHicks]

I'm thinking about painting my '46 BC12D with a "Deluxe" paint job like in the pic below.
I'm not interested in actually acquiring the cowl trim.
But I'm curious if anybody has ever tried painting the lines on the cowl so that from 30 feet away, it looks like it has cowl trim.
What do y'all think? Feasible?

[Marv]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

I don't see why not. I think you could use some base coat and clear coat and make it look like you have the trim on it from 5 to 10 feet awaay. Marv

[M Towsley]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

Tim,

You need to have someone who can airbrush art, like on cars or bikes. They can make it look like chrome, with shadows, etc. I know we have some great artists around here, hopefully you will too.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

That is actually the 1941 model trim and before I had the actual stainless trim pieces I tried painting the trim on. It actually looks pretty good and I think it would look even better if you used the airbrush idea with a good artist. They could even make it look "3D" and paint in a little "reflection".
If you need dimensions or anything I have the trim pieces for my 41 and they aren't on the plane right now. There are 5 pieces on each side and the cast grills with the "wings" on them that wrap around the nose bowl. There is also a rectangular grill in the hole under the prop, but that might be harder to make.
It does dress up the nose a lot.
Hank

[vetdrem]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

I recently acquired another '41 "DELUXE" that doesn't have the side moldings but has a "taylorcraft" decal where the moldings would be. I haven't seen it before, and I think it looks good. I have been trying to add a picture, but I guess that I am not smart enough to be able to attach it. Let me know if you want an email with the picture.

Louie

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

Send me the photo and I will post it.

hjarrett2
at
cox
dot net

I have never seen a decal but would like to see what it looks like.

Hank

[Helicopter D]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

In my opinion that is the best looking paint scheme of any Taylorcraft I have seen thus far,(rights to my own opinion reserved.) I have the same picture framed in my hangar as inspiration. I have been using PPG Air Tractor Yellow paint that may be just a touch brighter. I don't plan to be as elaborate as to attempt the trim work but would like to at least have the nose bowl grills chromed.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

Hear is the photo of the decal/painted logo on the front of a 41 Louie was talking about. I like it!

If anyone wants to try and make the stainless trim pieces let me know. I had considered making them from Carbon Fiber and epoxy with a metalized coating because they are so hard to find. I found an original set and never got around to it but the process works pretty well. They wouldn't be cheap, but look original.
Hank

[Bird]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

Just a thought here, I wonder how much it would cost for somebody with one of those new 3d printers that can make parts to make a set that could be used as blanks to reproduce

[TimHicks]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

As many of y'all know, I do have access to a 3D printer (see the link below to another TCraft project I did on the printer). I could fairly easily model these trim pieces and print a set out if anybody needs me to.

But I don't think we really need to do this if Hank and others have originals that we could use for plugs. And I'm not really motivated to do it because I don't plan to use real 3D parts on my bird. I'm hoping to just paint a decent-looking representation of the trim.

But if there is a real need to print out a set of cowl trim pieces (to use as plugs), I'd gladly entertain the idea of doing the work as a service to the tribe.

http://vb.taylorcraft.org/showthread.php?9270-Glove-Map-Box&highlight=glove+handle

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

I have all the cowl trim parts and they are all off the plane since those were some of the "not needed to get back in the air" parts. The process for casting replicas is really just to make a shallow, long box and make a female mold from Silicone mold material. It even does a great job of picking up the stamped "Taylorcraft" in the front piece. One of the big expenses is the mold material is NOT cheap. If I was going to make just one set for myself I was going to use dental "algae" to make the mold but it doesn't stand up well enough for more than two parts, sometimes not even that. With silicone molds I would make one mold of the longest piece plus the part with the "Taylorcraft" stamp on each end, plus a mold of the long, smaller cross section piece. With those you could cut them to length for all the parts and only need two molds.

One nice thing is we could mold screws into the trim to go through holes in the cowl and not use the cheesy wire clips that hold the pieces on.

For a finish, the originals were made from stainless steel sheet that was polished, not chrome. The grills were cast aluminum and didn't match the rest of the trim. I would just make all the parts with glass or carbon fiber in epoxy and then the low cost finish would be stainless steel appliance paint.

If you wanted to get crazy I was in a group that developed a chrome or nickel plate process for resin castings. I had access to a really nice plating shop and a complete lab when we did it and have NO IDEA what it would cost now, but it wouldn't be cheap.

When we developed the process we were so proud we claimed we could plate ANYTHING and we won a bet with someone who said he would pay off if we could chrome plate a "dog pile" (yes, the smelly type). We used a modified process and actually did it! EVERYONE on the team wanted that thing for a desk weight. The problem was, the chrome was thin, and FRAGILE! You have to remember what is INSIDE that desk weight. If you dropped it, it would shatter like glass and I would bet the "material" was liquified since there was no way for it to dry out. The bacteria would have broken down all the "organic matter" and then died, but it would all still be in there.

We never had to worry about that. Someone stole it off of one of the senior guys desk and we never saw it again. I always wondered what happened to it since that was over 20 years ago and YOU KNOW someone has dropped it by now. Ain't Carma great?

Hank

We need to know how much interest there is in making these. How many 41 Deluxe planes are out there with missing pieces?

[Bird]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

Tim- what would you expect the costs range to be for a set of blanks?

[Bird]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

Hank my plane seems to be a mix heinz 57 more or less, I have 15 rib wings, underlayment dash shows inst cluster big rpm plus 4 other inst., fancy leather covered controls, but old style doors and wing windows that have no place in a plane,(they are too small and behind a brace that runs from lower front to higher back--ie useless) windows that is.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

Michael (Bird),
You need to post a set of pictures of your plane on the "Taylorcraft Airplane Registry" thread. Sounds to me like you have a 39, 40 or 41. I have found the small window behind the door is actually pretty useful (OK, the one on the passenger side is useful to the pilot, the one on your own side is pretty useless) and I really like it. Especially nice when someone is forming up on you from the right and below. Kind of shocking when a wing tip suddenly appears outside your passenger window!
Got my first formation flight training in a Stearman. We had a whole Comanche hidden from me behind the top wing! Open cockpit with great visibility and I didn't see a thing. The instructor in back kept him out of my sight till the last moments when his "edges" started to appear from the edges of the top wing. EVERY airplane has blind spots and ANY extra visibility is a help. It was a great lesson.
Hank

[N95334]

Re: Painted to look like cowl trim

I maybe the only one who does not like the Deluxe trim. Makes it look too automobileish.
OK you can throw rocks at me now, just don't hit my beloved Taylorcraft.