Fred,
Don't know if it will work, but if you can found a soda blaster it
will take the paint off and may not harm the underlying fabric. Even
so, you might want an IA to do a test on the fabric to see what
condition it is in before reusing it. I had the same issue with
paint and bondo on my fabric wings and opted to recover. A huge
benefit to that was the chance to see all of the inside of the
wings. Both had the beginnings of corrosion that had not been picked
up in multiple previous annuals, or were not disclosed. You can
figure out which you think it was. I find it hard to believe that
the A&P/IA I bought it from (as a project) didn't see it if my meager
A&P training permitted me to find it fairly quickly.
Perry
On Aug 4, 2009, at 11:12 AM, Art Langston wrote:
Fred, I don't know if this will help, but I once bought a Luscombe
with the same problem, and I managed to get most of the old paint
off using a drill and one of those attachments with the tines on
it. The make those for doing furniature etc where they dont want to
damage carving, etc. It worked pretty well, and did not seem to
traumatize the fabric or the silver coat. It was one ugly bird, as
I think the whole plane was painted with house paint. I polished it
out, and it was not a bad looking airplane when I was finished. I
did lightly sand the wings and added some more silver for the
correct process.
Dave, where did you find someone to cover for $2000? My last quote
was almost $8000 ( which may have been a nice way of them saying sc%
^& you and your puny project). I figure those guys wanted $300 an
hour.
I can get really nice envelopes and all materials but the color
coat for $1700. I have had so many bad experiences with APs (I had
a $100 patch actually fall off in flight once) and fabric that I do
all of it myself. I'll put my work up against anyone.
Happy Flying
Art
Bob Swinney wrote:
I had the same problem, but my covering was less than 20 yrs old.
Also the paint used did not agree with the Stits instructions and
was not approved for the installation. Bite the bullet and re-
cover....
Bob
--- On Tue, 8/4/09, David Winters <[email protected]>
wrote:
From: David Winters <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [ercoupe-tech] Wing Covering
To: "'Fred Goff'" <[email protected]>, [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 10:15 AM
Fred,
The problem you have is precisely the problem that forced me to
have my wings re-covered. The barn paint curse is apparently un-
curable. Universal consensus was that it cannot be fixed.
Aputation is the only answer.
I paid a couple of thousand to have the wings re-covered. some
guys do it themselves, but the challenge was too great for me.
New covers take at least a couple of weeks to do. (Mine took
months.) The paint is astronomically expensive, so I made do with
the silver base-coat. The biggest problem, though, was finding
someone to do them.
Dave Winters
From: ercoupe-tech@ yahoogroups. com [mailto:ercoupe-
t...@yahoogroups .com] On Behalf Of Fred Goff
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 5:01 AM
To: ercoupe-tech@ yahoogroups. com
Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Wing Covering
Hello. I've just acquired a 1946 Ercoupe. The paint on the
entire upper surface of the fabric wings is badly cracked and
pieces of it will peel off with little effort. The fabric itself
is in pretty good shape. It was last covered in 1980 with Eolox
(sp?) and there are three coats of paint on top of the silver -
the last of which appears to be house paint. I've tried to remove
the paint with MEK, paint stripper, and simply running a plastic
putty knife under the paint where its lifted. Each technique takes
a long time to get only a small section partially cleaned and the
results are poor. Its looking like it would take multiple weeks
or months to get the entire wings clean and I'd like the plane in
the air as soon as possible.
Does anyone have any ideas how I can get the old paint off? If I
recover the wings, what's the best approach? Can I do it myself?
How long would it take? Any ideas on ballpark costs?
I'll appreciate any help.
Fred Goff
130 Tracy Drive
Vernon, CT 06066
(860) 875-4027
(860) 874-6990 (cell)
