Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:34 pm
Well, I've got both wings covered and primed, but I'm having troubles with my Photobucket account, so I'm unable to post the pictures of the process at this time.
I will say, however, that I got some excellent news recently. I have obtained a sponsorship with Pacific Continental Engines, who will supply me with a complete, race ready, engine!!!
I am very excited to be working with them and am glad to have them on board with "Another Solution."
I"m also seeking other sponsorships to become a part of the team, so if you know of anyone who'd like to be a part of the fun, please let me know.
Gary
I will say, however, that I got some excellent news recently. I have obtained a sponsorship with Pacific Continental Engines, who will supply me with a complete, race ready, engine!!!
I am very excited to be working with them and am glad to have them on board with "Another Solution."
I"m also seeking other sponsorships to become a part of the team, so if you know of anyone who'd like to be a part of the fun, please let me know.
Gary
Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:31 pm
Congratulations on the sponsorship Gary, that is excellent news.
Can't wait to see your photos when photobucket starts to cooperate with you.
Are you counting the days 'til Reno '08?
Steve
Can't wait to see your photos when photobucket starts to cooperate with you.
Are you counting the days 'til Reno '08?
Steve
Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:53 am
Gary
Congrats on your engine sponsorship. I look forward to seeing your progress this weekend.
Flyingsailor and Coldflyer
Congrats on your engine sponsorship. I look forward to seeing your progress this weekend.
Flyingsailor and Coldflyer
Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:58 am
Well, Photobucket is still screwing me by not uploading any of my progress pictures, so until that gets fixed, there'll be no real good updates on Another Solution.
I'm currently wet sanding the wings to prep them for paint. I've been working to try to get a paint sponsor, but have had no luck so far. At nearly $500/gallon (red paint is expensive, huh?), I have to be frugal about how to pay for it and everything else needed for this project. But I WILL figure out a way to make it happen!
Gary
I'm currently wet sanding the wings to prep them for paint. I've been working to try to get a paint sponsor, but have had no luck so far. At nearly $500/gallon (red paint is expensive, huh?), I have to be frugal about how to pay for it and everything else needed for this project. But I WILL figure out a way to make it happen!
Gary
Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:58 pm
Are the wings fiberglass covered or fabric covered over the wood?
What kind of paint do you plan to use? Base coat/clear coat, polyurethane, enamel?
What kind of paint do you plan to use? Base coat/clear coat, polyurethane, enamel?
Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:59 pm
Okaaaaaay, I was finally able to work out the problem with my Photobucket issues, so here is an update on what I've done over the last few weeks......
After applying the clear varnish on the spar carry thru structures, I allowed it to cure and then masked that area so that the covering and painting process of the wings wouldn't affect the appearance of those pretty spars......
I am now ready to start covering the wings. The first step was to make sure the wings were clean. I used the same ol' wax and grease remover you've seen before on this project...
I'm using the Air Tech process on this little racer and I highly recommend it to anyone out there with fabric projects. It's sometimes tough to convince the "old timers" out there that this is the way to go, but for me, it's much simpler and considerably easier to deal with than the older methods of fabric covering. Additionally, it produces one of the slickest finishes, with less overall weight than nearly any other process available. I won't waste a bunch of time by describing every single detail, as in the Air Tech manual (which is quite thorough and helpful, by the way), but I will hit the "high points" of how things went.
The first thing I did was to spray three cross coats of the Air Tech adhesive to the surface of the wing. This is the foundation for the fabric to stay on the wood, so thorough coating is required......
Next, I laid a section of fabric on the top portion of the wing. I'm using the lightest weight fabric I could find (1.2 ounce Ceconite). I'm starting with the top side of the wing so that the seams will all be underneath...for better appearance ..........
Then I cut off the big sections of overhanging fabric. This will get whittled down further as the process continues, but for now, you just want to make it managable............
Next, I tried a little trick one of the "old timers" taught me. After folding the fabric back, I took a brush and went back and forth across the wing with it. That creates a static electricity on the surface of the wing, which allows the fabric to be "sucked" to the wing better. It works pretty well, but a much larger brush would've produced better results for me..........
The next step was to simply lay the fabric back down on top of the wing. I then took a lint-free cloth, dipped it into my container of adhesive, and applied it to the perimeter of the wing. Yeah, yeah, I know.....I wasn't wearing gloves.
And yes, I was picking glue off my hands for days.
The application of the adhesive purges it through the weave of the fabric and adheres it to the adhesive on the surface of the wing, thus creating a tight bond for the fabric to be held on with. The reason you don't use a brush here is because you don't want those irritating little bristles breaking loose and ending up being glued to the fabric......
After allowing the adhesive to cure, I took an iron (at approximately 250 degrees) and applied it to the fabric around the perimeter of the wing. This isn't at all the final step for these areas, but rather just to get it started in the right direction. It's really kind of neat to see how all of this transitions from a big, wrinkled mess to a slick, finished product as the steps continue..........
Then, I used the iron (at the same temperature) to tighten up the fabric on the inside of the adhesive that was previously applied. It's very important not to have the iron set too high, as you don't want to melt the adhesive below the fabric and have it stick to the wing at this point. The idea here is to make the fabric nice and taunt. It's tough not to get in a hurry here, but it's important to just take your time and be patient.......
Once I competed the step above, I applied adhesive to the remainder of the fabric. This step is what keeps the fabric you just shrunk attached to the wing, so watching it to make sure you get good penetration of adhesive through the weaves of fabric, into the wood below, is crucial........
While all of the adhesive is curing, I moved on to the other wing and did the same procedures...same song, different verse.........
One step I didn't show on the previous wing was some more trimming of the fabric around the edges. You can see that some areas, such as the aileron bays, require cutting the fabric at the correct angles so that it'll fold down with ease in a later step........
And now both wings are ready for the next step in the process......
The next step was to lay all of the edges down. I use a modeler's iron for this process, as a standard iron is just too big for my liking. I also bumped the temperature up about 10 degrees or so on the ironing process, as I want to just make the glue underneath the areas I'll be laying down sticky enough for the fabric to stick to it. I'll be laying another coat of adhesive to the fabric later, but having it stick where it's supposed to is very helpful at this point........
I also had to do a bit more trimming before I could lay all of the edges down..........
Then it was just a feature of laying the fabric down with the iron. Sometimes moderate pressure is necessary to get the fabric to go where you want, but it doesn't take long to figure out what you need to do to make it work out..........
Finally, it was time to flip the wing over and lay down the edges there.......
But first, more trimming was needed........
As you can imagine, the edges under the wing tip area would only lay down so much. So I had to cut some slits in the areas of fabric that overlapped each other. This enabled the fabric to lay down nicely. Don't worry about the open areas for now. This will get fixed later with finishing tapes........
The remainder of the leading and trailing edges laid down nicely........
Next was the application of the fabric on the bottom of the wing. This is pretty much the same as the top of the wing, only without the overhanging fabric. For whatever reason, I must've forgotten to take progress pictures during the process between laying the fabric on the wing until it was all glued in place, but other than cutting it to shape, it is all pretty much the same..........
One difference in the bottom of the wing was that it has inspection covers in it to gain access to the aileron bellcrank. During the process of actually applying the fabric to the wing, you just ignore this area and shrink & apply the fabric as you would on the top side. Once the fabric is all in place is when you can cut out the area for the inspection panel. I went over the edges of the panel with the modeler's iron one more time, to insure that they were fastened securely to the wing. Then it was just a matter of installing the original inspection panel cover.......
The next step was to start laying down the finishing tapes. The first finishing tape to install isn't really much more than a doubler, so to speak, for the fabric around the pitot tube. I just made this by cutting out a circle with some pinking shears and then applying it with the adhesive. The edges are pinked so that they are less likely to fray, and in theory, adds strength...not that the strength of the tapes are a big issue in this situation.......
Next, I just used some 2" pinked tapes and laid them down where the upper and lower sections of fabric came together. These tapes will form a "bridge" of fabric to hold everything together. They are applied by simply laying them down with the adhesive soaked cloth. I took my time to ensure that the tapes were nice and straight........
And with all the tapes in place, the fabric covering portion of the wing project is completed..........
Before priming the wings, I needed to punch the holes for the aileron attach points and the wing root fairings. So how do you do this without the fabric fraying or coming loose? Well, you use an old soldering iron, of course. The use of one of these irons is perfect for this type of job. It simply "melts" it's way through the fabric, so there are no rough edges. It also softens up the surrounding adhesive enough that the edges of the hole adhere to the wood and are sure to stay put.......
Finally, the wings are ready for primer. Again, the Air Tech system utilizes a fantastic primer that gives you the UV protection the fabric needs, while at the same time is extremely easy to apply and work with. All you do is apply three cross coats and it's ready for paint (in theory).
Personally, I like to let the primer cure for a week and then wet sand it before applying the paint. This makes for an amazing finish and is well worth the effort. And even with that, it's still far less troublesome than some of the older methods of applying coat after coat of "silver" and wetsanding between each coat.
So there you have it...you're all caught up on where I'm at right now with Another Solution. I'm not quite finished with the wet sanding process yet, and I'll likely go over the wings at least a couple more times before I call it good. This is just an area where I think a little bit of effort in making the wings as slick as possible by wet sanding, will provide a very slick finish when I get around to painting it. But I'm sure I'll keep y'all posted on the progress along the way, so stay tuned.
Gary
After applying the clear varnish on the spar carry thru structures, I allowed it to cure and then masked that area so that the covering and painting process of the wings wouldn't affect the appearance of those pretty spars......
I am now ready to start covering the wings. The first step was to make sure the wings were clean. I used the same ol' wax and grease remover you've seen before on this project...
I'm using the Air Tech process on this little racer and I highly recommend it to anyone out there with fabric projects. It's sometimes tough to convince the "old timers" out there that this is the way to go, but for me, it's much simpler and considerably easier to deal with than the older methods of fabric covering. Additionally, it produces one of the slickest finishes, with less overall weight than nearly any other process available. I won't waste a bunch of time by describing every single detail, as in the Air Tech manual (which is quite thorough and helpful, by the way), but I will hit the "high points" of how things went.
The first thing I did was to spray three cross coats of the Air Tech adhesive to the surface of the wing. This is the foundation for the fabric to stay on the wood, so thorough coating is required......
Next, I laid a section of fabric on the top portion of the wing. I'm using the lightest weight fabric I could find (1.2 ounce Ceconite). I'm starting with the top side of the wing so that the seams will all be underneath...for better appearance
..........
Then I cut off the big sections of overhanging fabric. This will get whittled down further as the process continues, but for now, you just want to make it managable............
Next, I tried a little trick one of the "old timers" taught me. After folding the fabric back, I took a brush and went back and forth across the wing with it. That creates a static electricity on the surface of the wing, which allows the fabric to be "sucked" to the wing better. It works pretty well, but a much larger brush would've produced better results for me..........
The next step was to simply lay the fabric back down on top of the wing. I then took a lint-free cloth, dipped it into my container of adhesive, and applied it to the perimeter of the wing. Yeah, yeah, I know.....I wasn't wearing gloves.
And yes, I was picking glue off my hands for days.
The application of the adhesive purges it through the weave of the fabric and adheres it to the adhesive on the surface of the wing, thus creating a tight bond for the fabric to be held on with. The reason you don't use a brush here is because you don't want those irritating little bristles breaking loose and ending up being glued to the fabric......
After allowing the adhesive to cure, I took an iron (at approximately 250 degrees) and applied it to the fabric around the perimeter of the wing. This isn't at all the final step for these areas, but rather just to get it started in the right direction. It's really kind of neat to see how all of this transitions from a big, wrinkled mess to a slick, finished product as the steps continue..........
Then, I used the iron (at the same temperature) to tighten up the fabric on the inside of the adhesive that was previously applied. It's very important not to have the iron set too high, as you don't want to melt the adhesive below the fabric and have it stick to the wing at this point. The idea here is to make the fabric nice and taunt. It's tough not to get in a hurry here, but it's important to just take your time and be patient.......
Once I competed the step above, I applied adhesive to the remainder of the fabric. This step is what keeps the fabric you just shrunk attached to the wing, so watching it to make sure you get good penetration of adhesive through the weaves of fabric, into the wood below, is crucial........
While all of the adhesive is curing, I moved on to the other wing and did the same procedures...same song, different verse.........
One step I didn't show on the previous wing was some more trimming of the fabric around the edges. You can see that some areas, such as the aileron bays, require cutting the fabric at the correct angles so that it'll fold down with ease in a later step........
And now both wings are ready for the next step in the process......
The next step was to lay all of the edges down. I use a modeler's iron for this process, as a standard iron is just too big for my liking. I also bumped the temperature up about 10 degrees or so on the ironing process, as I want to just make the glue underneath the areas I'll be laying down sticky enough for the fabric to stick to it. I'll be laying another coat of adhesive to the fabric later, but having it stick where it's supposed to is very helpful at this point........
I also had to do a bit more trimming before I could lay all of the edges down..........
Then it was just a feature of laying the fabric down with the iron. Sometimes moderate pressure is necessary to get the fabric to go where you want, but it doesn't take long to figure out what you need to do to make it work out..........
Finally, it was time to flip the wing over and lay down the edges there.......
But first, more trimming was needed........
As you can imagine, the edges under the wing tip area would only lay down so much. So I had to cut some slits in the areas of fabric that overlapped each other. This enabled the fabric to lay down nicely. Don't worry about the open areas for now. This will get fixed later with finishing tapes........
The remainder of the leading and trailing edges laid down nicely........
Next was the application of the fabric on the bottom of the wing. This is pretty much the same as the top of the wing, only without the overhanging fabric. For whatever reason, I must've forgotten to take progress pictures during the process between laying the fabric on the wing until it was all glued in place, but other than cutting it to shape, it is all pretty much the same..........
One difference in the bottom of the wing was that it has inspection covers in it to gain access to the aileron bellcrank. During the process of actually applying the fabric to the wing, you just ignore this area and shrink & apply the fabric as you would on the top side. Once the fabric is all in place is when you can cut out the area for the inspection panel. I went over the edges of the panel with the modeler's iron one more time, to insure that they were fastened securely to the wing. Then it was just a matter of installing the original inspection panel cover.......
The next step was to start laying down the finishing tapes. The first finishing tape to install isn't really much more than a doubler, so to speak, for the fabric around the pitot tube. I just made this by cutting out a circle with some pinking shears and then applying it with the adhesive. The edges are pinked so that they are less likely to fray, and in theory, adds strength...not that the strength of the tapes are a big issue in this situation.......
Next, I just used some 2" pinked tapes and laid them down where the upper and lower sections of fabric came together. These tapes will form a "bridge" of fabric to hold everything together. They are applied by simply laying them down with the adhesive soaked cloth. I took my time to ensure that the tapes were nice and straight........
And with all the tapes in place, the fabric covering portion of the wing project is completed..........
Before priming the wings, I needed to punch the holes for the aileron attach points and the wing root fairings. So how do you do this without the fabric fraying or coming loose? Well, you use an old soldering iron, of course.
The use of one of these irons is perfect for this type of job. It simply "melts" it's way through the fabric, so there are no rough edges. It also softens up the surrounding adhesive enough that the edges of the hole adhere to the wood and are sure to stay put.......
Finally, the wings are ready for primer. Again, the Air Tech system utilizes a fantastic primer that gives you the UV protection the fabric needs, while at the same time is extremely easy to apply and work with. All you do is apply three cross coats and it's ready for paint (in theory).
Personally, I like to let the primer cure for a week and then wet sand it before applying the paint. This makes for an amazing finish and is well worth the effort. And even with that, it's still far less troublesome than some of the older methods of applying coat after coat of "silver" and wetsanding between each coat.
So there you have it...you're all caught up on where I'm at right now with Another Solution. I'm not quite finished with the wet sanding process yet, and I'll likely go over the wings at least a couple more times before I call it good. This is just an area where I think a little bit of effort in making the wings as slick as possible by wet sanding, will provide a very slick finish when I get around to painting it. But I'm sure I'll keep y'all posted on the progress along the way, so stay tuned.
Gary
Sun Jan 06, 2008 2:34 pm
Excellent! Thanks for the update Gary, the wings look beautiful.
WIX may have to put togther a little sponsor money for Another Solution. We don't want you to be late...for Reno '08.
Steve
WIX may have to put togther a little sponsor money for Another Solution. We don't want you to be late...for Reno '08.
Steve
Sun Jan 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Thanks for the updates Gary.
What an excellent idea - let's see if we can raise enough to get your wings painted Gary. Scott, is it possible to set up something via Paypal?
Steven M. Dennis wrote:WIX may have to put togther a little sponsor money for Another Solution. We don't want you to be late...for Reno '08.
What an excellent idea - let's see if we can raise enough to get your wings painted Gary. Scott, is it possible to set up something via Paypal?
Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:54 pm
I want to throw a few bucks in, so if Scott doesn't want to do something through WIX, maybe you can tell us how we can send a little sponsor cash your way Gary....
Maybe you should start selling T-shirts like the big guys. I know there is talent on this board that could do the T-shirt design, etc. My wife says that I need to buy another warbird/Reno racer T-shirt like I need another hole in my head, but what the heck, you can never have too many T-shirts.
I'm really hoping I can swing the trip to Reno this year.
Steve
Maybe you should start selling T-shirts like the big guys. I know there is talent on this board that could do the T-shirt design, etc. My wife says that I need to buy another warbird/Reno racer T-shirt like I need another hole in my head, but what the heck, you can never have too many T-shirts.
I'm really hoping I can swing the trip to Reno this year.
Steve
Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:23 pm
I'll throw some bucks at the paint fund too. Some T-shirts would be cool. I can never have enough race shirts of some kind or another.
Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:11 pm
I spent an afternoon recently with a guy who’s been using the Air Tech process, and he really likes it as well.
Gary, it must be a nice change to do some fabric work on something small and not have a bunch of oil everywhere. Thanks for the update on your project!
Gary, it must be a nice change to do some fabric work on something small and not have a bunch of oil everywhere. Thanks for the update on your project!
Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:48 am
Eric Friedebach wrote:Gary, it must be a nice change to do some fabric work on something small and not have a bunch of oil everywhere. Thanks for the update on your project!
Are you kidding me? I love the smell of Aeroshell 120 in the morning!
Actually, this has been a fun project for me, but not necessarily because of the fabric work. I have had quite a few projects in the past, but without a doubt, this is the one personal project I'm most excited about getting done. I just like the fact that, even though it may seem insignificant to some, these wings and tail section will be able to fly around the pylons again since their last trip to Reno in the early '80s. In addition, with my new partnership with Pacific Continental, Another Solution might actually be somewhat competitive this year.
I appreciate the talk of some of the WIXers helping sponsor the airplane, and the shirt idea is a great idea as well. I'll get to work on some ideas for that. If anyone sincerely wishes to help with this project, just zap me an e-mail and we'll talk about it some more.
Again, thanks for showing interest in "Another Solution." It's a cool project and I'm glad to have y'all aboard!
Gary
Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:48 pm
Thanks for the update Gary. I really enjoyed seeing the wing covering process.
Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:33 pm
Now this is another neat Gary Austin thread! I do love this stuff! And I didi not know it was happening, because like most WIXers, I go every day to the main board and check out the rest of the forums rather intermittently.
Maybe Scott could put another anchored thread or post over on the main forum with links to this thread, the flying to PRS thread, the racing at Reno September thread, and any other great RetroAviation threads I don't know about.
These threads are turning into a really nice archive that would be and will continue to be of great interest to anybody with an interest in Air Racing in general, or more specifically in non-Warbird racing. I'd really like to see them pulled together somehow.
And congratulations on the engine sponsorship, Gary...
Maybe Scott could put another anchored thread or post over on the main forum with links to this thread, the flying to PRS thread, the racing at Reno September thread, and any other great RetroAviation threads I don't know about.
These threads are turning into a really nice archive that would be and will continue to be of great interest to anybody with an interest in Air Racing in general, or more specifically in non-Warbird racing. I'd really like to see them pulled together somehow.
And congratulations on the engine sponsorship, Gary...
Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:49 pm
If you go to the upper right hand corner of the main board you can click on "View posts since last visit" and see all the new posts. That's what I do so I don't miss anything new. Of course that gives me visibility to postings in the off topic thread, etc., but there typically isn't much activity other than in the "WIX Hangar" anyhow.